Dyk on Bik (DOB) is a motorcycle club prised of gay, bisexual, and trans women. This is their history, and what they've done 2020.
Contents:
- DYK ON BIK & GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE U.S.
- RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB
- LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US
DYK ON BIK & GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE U.S.
* gay biker club names *
The advent of gay motorcycle clubs the last half of the 20th century was grew out of a need for eedom, safe haven, and above all, pri.
Unlike gay bars, LGBTQ motorcycle anizatns uld more easily eva police raids and chronic harassment om lols. Jog a gay biker club provid support, safety, mararie and eedom to a group of people who stggled to fd those thgs an anti-gay society. Te to s name, Dyk on Bik (DOB) is a motorcycle club prised of gay, bisexual, and transgenr women that supports the larger LGBTQ muny through ridg events and fundraisers.
This is a closer look at how a small group of gay women motorcyclists planted the roots of one of the largt and most wily known gay motorcycle clubs the world, and how current Dyk on Bik members ntue that legacy 2020.
RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB
A uple dozen gay women motorcycle rirs had joed together at the start of the para, and one person the group ma a ment about “dyk on bik.
” The gay women’s motorcycle club then went back to urt, head up by San Francis lawyer and longtime club ally Brooke Oliver.
She sometim spoke about the pri she felt ridg her motorcycle wh other gay women durg those dozens of pri paras: “To ri down Market Street wh all those people lookg and appldg and sharg and ridg wh other women on motorcycl has got to be one of the highlights of my life. Today, this gay women’s motorcycle club is officially lled the San Francis Dyk on Bik Women’s Motorcycle Contgent (SFDOBWMC).
LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US
The signifince of the pk triangle is a heavy one: Begng the 1930s, German Nazis ed the symbol of upsi down pk triangle to intify gays ncentratn mps. But durg the AIDS crisis the 1980s, gay activists om ACT UP retook the symbol, flipped the triangle and created inic posters that ntaed the words “Silence=Death.
Early on, such clubs beme a vibrant subculture wh Wisns’s gay and lbian movement. More than 40 years ago, Si Sms beme a face of Milwkee’s LGBTQ muny when he was featured ridg his motorcycle a WTMJ seri, “Some Call Them Gay. LGBTQ bikers reprented what the straight world uld not fathom: gay men not as fey and mcg stereotyp but as mascule, rough-and-tumble guys; and gay women not as nuns and spster librarians but as tough, n-do gals.