Chicago Dyke March and Rally

The Chicago Dyke March is a grassroots march and rally centering lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, with no corporate sponsors or floats. It was first held in 1996 in Lakeview by the Chicago chapter of the Lesbian Avengers and has since moved among city neighborhoods. In 2026 it returned after a six-year hiatus, marching from Plaza Tenochtitlan in Pilsen to a rally and resource fair at Dvorak Park.

The Chicago Dyke March is organized by the Chicago Dyke March Collective, an all-volunteer group that describes its work as anti-racist, anti-violent and body positive. Its goal is to bring together communities across race, ethnicity, income, age, size, gender identity and expression, sexuality, culture, immigration status, spirituality and ability. The collective uses the word dyke deliberately as a reclaimed, political term, while continuing to discuss how the word lands with low-income communities and communities of color.

The Dyke March tradition began in New York City in 1992 with the Lesbian Avengers, a direct action group, because queer women, and women of color in particular, often felt overshadowed at Pride. In 1993 the Avengers held a nationwide Dyke March in Washington the night before the March on Washington, drawing about 20,000 people, and many marchers went home to start their own.

Chicago's first march in 1996 had no corporate sponsors and was framed as a protest against a Pride parade the organizers saw as corporate and dominated by white men. The march moved to Andersonville the next year and stayed there for a decade, then moved to Pilsen in 2008 after attendees raised concerns about inclusion and access for communities of color. Its 20th anniversary march in 2016 took place in Humboldt Park.

The collective makes decisions by consensus. New members usually come from people who have already helped with the march, for example as safety marshals or neighborhood outreach volunteers, and the collective reviews potential members each year in late summer.

Dyke Marches are grassroots marches for lesbian, bisexual and queer women and gender-expansive people, usually non-commercial and often held the same weekend as the city's main Pride.

Chicago Dyke March and Rally has included dyke march, rally and resource fair.

Chicago Dyke March and Rally was first held in 1996.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held June 27, 2026. It usually falls saturday before the Chicago Pride Parade in late June.