Dykes on Bikes

Dykes on Bikes is an international coalition of women's motorcycle groups that includes both lesbian and non-lesbian riders and supporters. These groups are known best for their participation in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and women's rights parades and marches but are also active in community service projects as well as other nonpolitical riding ventures. Dykes on Bikes has been in the press for their annual riding in the San Francisco Pride Parade-a procession that they lead-and for their legal battle to trademark their controversial name, which ended in 2007. The primary goals of this group are to create community between women motorcyclists, to empower women and lesbians, to participate in philanthropic and political ventures relating to LGBT and women's issues, and to share a love of motorcycling among women.

Women have ridden motorcycles throughout the 1900s. In World War II, as women mobilized to assist in the war effort at home and the boundaries of what it meant to be feminine were pushed as women took on a number of roles and responsibilities previously assigned to men, women began to operate motor vehicles, including motorcycles, in record numbers. Dykes on Bikes is the largest and most well-known community of women riders in history. In 1976, Dykes on Bikes made its first official appearance as a group in the San Francisco Pride Parade. Because of some of the motorcycles’ engines overheating as they attempted to move at the slow speed of the parade, the group, now known as the San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent, was soon moved to the front of the parade, where they have stayed visible for more than 30 years. During this time, chapters of Dykes on Bikes have emerged across the United States and in several other countries worldwide; these chapters continue to be active in their respective local communities.

Although women continue to ride alongside, and apart from, men, biking is still largely considered a masculine undertaking, and women riders are often labeled as manly, or as “dykes”-a historically negative term for lesbians. Dykes on Bikes includes the term in its name as a way of reclaiming this term by the communities of women whom it was initially used to offend. Thus, use of the term is an act of resistance against discrimination. In February 2004, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused the group's request to trademark the name “Dykes on Bikes,” as it was said to violate section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which will not register a trademark that includes terms that disparage or disrepute a group of people. With the help of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and representation from the Brooke Oliver Law Group, Dykes on Bikes fought this decision, which was eventually overturned in 2007 by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Dykes on Bikes continues to be met with mixed reviews by the public, including feminist and lesbian communities. Some see the group as a strong example of cultural resistance, whereas others believe that the group confirms negative stereotypes about lesbians.

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