The Lesbian Avengers and the Dyke March

Lesbian Avengers Rainbow Curriculum Flyer

The Lesbian Avengers were founded in 1992 in New York, New York, as a direct action group focused on lesbian visibility and survival. It was founded by six women named Anne-christine d’Adesky, Marie Honan, Anne Maguire, Sarah Schulman, Ana Simo, and Maxine Wolfe. Several of these women were already immersed in LGBTQ+ activism with their involvement in ACT UP or other activist organizations. The activist group grew from these six women to seventy members at their first meeting and then, at its prime, had sixty chapters across the globe, with the main two being the New York and San Francisco chapters. The group took key ideas and beliefs in their activism from a prior group called the Radicalesbians from the seventies and their lesbian manifesto, “The Women-Identified Woman.” Using the tools these women had from their combined experiences in activism and the lessons learned from the Radicalesbians, the group was able to be successful in looking at queer liberation in an intersectional way.

Their first action as an organization was in September of 1992 with their support of the Rainbow Curriculum. The Lesbian Avengers protested attempts from right-wing groups to remove the “Children of the Rainbow” program from elementary school programs in the Queens school districts. The focus of this curriculum was to promote multiculturalism. Its primary focus was on race and ethnicity. However, out of the 443 pages, three included encouraging teachers to reference gay and lesbian individuals when discussing what families can look like. Conservative religious groups targeted these pages because the program taught students an “immoral way of living.” The Lesbian Avengers coordinated a march throughout the district’s neighborhood to protest the removal of this program on September 9th, 1993. They would protest this policy change in several ways by picketing outside of schools, protesting school board meetings, as well as singing songs outside of the home of Mary Cummins, the president of School District 24 in Queens, who ardently opposed the curriculum. The flyer from this event can be seen in the exhibit to the left.

International Dyke March Poster

The organization used several different activist tactics to express themselves and draw attention to their mission. One tactic used was the practice of fire-eating. It was one of the significant symbols for the group. It was a tool for reclaiming the use of fire against gay and lesbian individuals after the 1992 murders of Hattie Mae Cohens, a Black lesbian woman, and Brian Mock, a white gay man with a disability, whose apartment was fire-bombed. Fire eating became the Avenger’s response by chanting, "The fire will not consume us. We take it and make it our own” as they engaged in the act. This act has been a continued tradition at lesbian marches since.

The Lesbian Avengers worked on several different actions in its five-year life span. One of the everlasting ones is the Dyke March. The initial Dyke March was put on by the San Francisco chapter of the Lesbian Avengers in Washington D.C. on April 25th, 1993, at the March for Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. This march was also the large-scale debut of the fire-eating tactic to draw attention to the murders. Around 20,000 people marched for lesbian liberation. The New York City chapter of the Avengers then followed up with their own Dyke March. The first Dyke March in New York City was held on June 26th, 1993, with the theme ‘Lesbians Lust for Power.’ The organization encouraged attendees to “practice the art of mass seduction as we lick, squirm, fondle, moan, and kiss our way down Broadway.” The march started at Bryant Park and ended with a rally at Union Square. The flyer for the first march is included in this exhibit to highlight the start of this continually honored tradition for the lesbian community. The Dyke March is still a well-loved tradition for the lesbian community and is held during pride month every year to celebrate visibility. The following year the International Dyke March was held on June 25th, 1994, in which thousands of lesbians from across the globe came to march down Fifth Avenue.

First Annual Dyke Pride March Poster

The images in this exhibit reflect the several different actions and flyer styles the Lesbian Avengers convey their messages and cause. The only flyer not created by the group is the “Women don’t get aids. They just die from it.” The poster was created by the art activist group, Gran Fury, to spread awareness of the ignoring of women living with HIV or AIDS by the United States government. This poster was included as an introduction to the unsafe and deadly space the group was entering with their activism. The LGBTQ+ community was experiencing a plague unlike any before, and the Lesbian Avengers were founded during some of the deadliest years of the crisis. While today the Dyke Marches are seen as a key event for lesbian visibility, its founding years were more about survival and fighting for the lives of the Queer community.

The marches and organization were not only a place for advocacy but a place to grieve and fuel the frustrations into something productive. The Dyke Marches are a yearly reminder of the impact and need for lesbian visibility. The Lesbian Avengers, while only being active as an activist organization for five to seven years, has left an everlasting mark on celebrating queer lives and the continued fight for liberation.