As long as there have been motorcycles, there have been women—and dykes—on bikes. Women, in fact, have made significant, often overlooked, contributions to motorcycle technology and culture. Key innovations include the development of Kevlar by Stephanie Kwolek for protective gear; improvements to electric motorbikes by Swedish mechanical engineer Eva Håkansson, who in 2014 became the world’s fastest woman on such a bike; and the pioneering achievements of mother-daughter duo Avis and Effie Hotchkiss, who were also skilled mechanics and completed an historic 9,000-mile round-trip ride in 1915 from New York to San Francisco and back on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle-sidecar combination. As Avis said about her talented daughter: “I do not fear breakdowns for Effie, being a most careful driver, is a good mechanic and does her own repairing with her own tools.”
So it is that dykes on bikes have always been a part of Pride (often first called “Gay Freedom”) parades since the emergence of these events nationwide in the 1970s. In the early years, LGBTQ+ individuals and allies would ride their motorcycles and other bikes down the route, but it was not an organized effort.
That changed in June 1976, when a group of 20–25 women motorcyclists decided to ride their motorcycles in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. They quickly realized that their bikes could overheat if they had to idle for extended periods behind other slower-moving contingents, so they took their position at the head of the parade and dykes on bikes have been doing so ever since.
One of the riders noted them as being “dykes on bikes,” which was overheard and reported in the San Francisco Chronicle. The Women’s Motorcycle Contingent (WMC) emerged as the group grew and became more structured, but they were still known in the press and LGBTQ+ community as the dykes on bikes.
The San Francisco WMC was started by LB Gunn, Kalin Elliot-Arns, Christine Elliot, Sabine Balden, and Mel. The WMC name was used to make the group appeal to all women motorcyclists. Their first meetings were held at a private home. They later moved the meetings to an upstairs room at Amelia’s, a lesbian bar. When Amelia’s closed, the meetings were moved again, this time to The Eagle Tavern, at 12th and Harrison streets. Joining them in 1978 was Vietnam War vet, businesswoman, and motorcycle enthusiast Soni Wolf (1948–2018), who helped strengthen the group and make it one of the most visible and empowering symbols of the LGBTQ+ community.
Supreme Court Win
Legally registering the group’s more familiar name proved to be an uphill battle as the term “dyke(s)” was deemed vulgar, offensive, and “scandalous” by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Wolf and her compatriots instead maintained that they had reclaimed “dyke” for the lesbian community, and even to signify empowerment.
This led to a long legal battle spearheaded by lead counsel Brooke Oliver. In 2007, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the right of the San Francisco WMC to trademark “Dykes on Bikes,” rejecting claims that the name was disparaging. In July of that same year, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, thereby allowing the victorious decision to stand.
But the challenges were not over. The PTO, the same agency that had first denied then accepted the name application years earlier, several years later denied the logo application for the same reason it had previously
refused the first name registration. This time the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the case and unanimously found it unconstitutional to prohibit the trademark registration of a mark by the PTO based on what some may consider to be disparaging language. It is a fascinating case and we encourage you to read more, in the words of Oliver and co-authors, at this SCOTUS page: https://bit.ly/4mDOEkl
The San Francisco Bay Times interviewed Wolf over the years. In one of her last comments, for the 40th Anniversary of the Dykes on Bikes®—note the capitalization and trademark symbol!—Wolf said, “Having ridden with Dykes on Bikes® to start the parade for 38 years, celebrating our 40th Anniversary is realizing half of my dream/vision for this group of wonderful women has happened. I am extremely honored to be part of this extraordinary organization.”
New Leadership and a Worldwide Community
By the time of the 40th Anniversary, Kate Brown was already President of the organization. She then said, “Being a Dyke on a Bike® to me means having the freedom and courage to be who we are, regardless of how the world may perceive us.” She added, “We have become more organized in our efforts to support philanthropic endeavors in the LGBT and women’s motorcycle community at a local, national and international level and gained visibility, in part, through our legal battle to protect the name Dykes on Bikes®. However, at the core we are still a group of women who are not afraid, and indeed insist, on moving to the front of life’s Parade to be seen and heard, with the roar of our engines felt as we ride with Pride in who we are.”
Dykes on Bikes® chapters have been established throughout the U.S. and the world. Brown is a Bay Times columnist, and shares more news about the organization in this issue, which also includes statements from many of the chapters here in the U.S. and abroad.
An Historic Collaboration for the Cover of This Issue
The cover of this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times was inspired by a 1984 photo of the Dykes on Bikes® taken by Bay Times lead photographer Rink. He has photographed every Gay Freedom and Pride Parade in San Francisco, and therefore has many historic images of the Dykes on Bikes® and more.
Debra Walker, an artist and city Commissioner on the Arts Commission, then created an original image based on Rink’s photo. It is a rare front-back image for the paper and Walker’s first for the Bay Times of this size. She has previously created other significant covers for the Bay Times, including the cover marking the Dykes on Bikes® 45th Anniversary: https://bit.ly/4ey8X0n
On April 24, 2026, the Friday of Lesbian Visibility Week and during a celebration co-produced by the Bay Times of the 50th Anniversary of the Dykes on Bikes® at Rikki’s in the Castro, Walker will be auctioning off a signed limited edition print of the image to benefit the Dykes on Bikes® and the Use the News Foundation, which is the fiscal sponsor of the Bay Times.
The Bay Times encourages supporting the Dykes on Bikes® as they move toward their next half century of leading the Pride Parade, empowering and educating countless others, and engaging in philanthropic endeavors throughout the LGBTQ+ communities and beyond.
50th Anniversary of the Dykes on Bikes®
Published on April 23, 2026
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