By Kate Brown, Ph.D.—
On October 17, San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® received the GLBT Historical Society’s 2026 History Maker Award in recognition of our 50th Anniversary. To receive this recognition during our anniversary year, alongside fellow honoree Marvin K. White, was incredibly meaningful.
The Society’s annual Reunion gala raised more than $300,000 to support its work. It was a very special evening and a powerful reminder of how much our community values its history.
For more than 40 years, the Society has collected, documented, preserved, and shared LGBTQ+ history. Its archives hold the stories of the people, organizations, and movements that helped shape the LGBTQ+ community. Without that work, so much of what came before us could simply disappear.
Dykes on Bikes knows firsthand how important this is. As we’ve celebrated our 30th, 40th, and now 50th anniversaries, we’ve turned to the Society for photographs, historical records, and stories that help us share our history. The Society hasn’t just preserved our history. It’s helped us tell our story back to ourselves. This June, those photographs let Dykes on Bikes patch-holders from chapters visiting from around the world step back in time together, connecting today’s riders to the dykes who started it all.
In 1976, a small group of women on motorcycles made a bold move for lesbian dignity and courage when they moved to the front of San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day March. Fifty years later, we’re still there.
One of those women was Ali Marrero-Calderon, who was the first to move her motorcycle to the front of the march that day, helping establish what would become one of the most recognizable traditions in Pride history. Ali became our first emeritus member and traveled from Puerto Rico this June to ride in the Pride Parade with us once more.
It was also wonderful to have emeritus members Ranell Winchester and past-President and emeritus member Vick Germany with us that evening. Both have contributed so much to Dykes on Bikes over the years, and their presence made the recognition even more meaningful.
Before you see us, you hear us. The roar of our motorcycles reverberating through the skyscrapers as we ride down Market Street is an iconic part of San Francisco Pride and is mirrored in Pride Parades around the world. But that tradition didn’t happen by accident. It started with women who were determined to be seen and heard, at a time when being openly out took tremendous courage.
And that’s why I worry about what’s happening to LGBTQ+ history today.
We’re watching books about our lives and experiences being pulled from school libraries, LGBTQ+ identities being challenged, transgender women and girls being excluded from sports, and efforts to erase transgender people from public life. These aren’t just arguments about what gets taught in a classroom. They’re about whose stories are considered worthy of being told.
When you erase a community’s history, it becomes much easier to deny its place in the present.
I think about the young people who may never learn about the dykes who rode down Market Street in 1976, the activists who fought through the AIDS crisis, or the countless LGBTQ+ people who built communities when society offered them little acceptance or protection.
I think about all the stories that were never written down in the first place: the photographs tucked away in someone’s closet, the memories that disappear when someone passes away.
That’s what makes the GLBT Historical Society’s work so important. Preserving our history isn’t just about looking backward. It’s about making sure future generations know we were here, what we fought for, and how much it took to get where we are today.
We can’t take for granted that someone else will tell those stories for us. It’s up to us to save our history, document it, preserve it, and share it. If we don’t, someone else may decide how it’s told, or whether it’s told at all.
I’m especially excited about the Society’s next chapter. Its move to a new permanent home will bring its museum and archives together and create more opportunities for people to engage with our history. I love the idea of young LGBTQ+ people walking through those doors and seeing themselves reflected in the stories of those who came before them.
Our thanks to the GLBT Historical Society’s staff, board, volunteers, and supporters for the extraordinary work they do. And congratulations on such a successful Reunion gala.
To our Board, patch-holders, emeritus and generations of riders who came before us: this award belongs to you.
Our history is worth protecting, sharing, and investing in. The GLBT Historical Society helps make that possible, and I hope you’ll join us in supporting its work.
Kate Brown, Ph.D., is the President of San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® Women’s Motorcycle Contingent. https://www.dykesonbikes.org/
Dykes on Bikes® Tales from Two Wheels
Published on November 5, 2026
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