Dyke March – Feminism and Religion

Gay Pride 2026 by Marie Cartier

This past weekend– May 15-17, 2026 was gay pride in Long Beach, California. Long Beach KICKS off pride month in May, and is believed to be the first pride event of the nation– happening before the official pride month of June (commemorating the Stonewall Riot).

Here are some pictures I took from the 13th annual Dyke March, and Dykes After Dark poetry event! Completely community organized and free! And the Pride Parade in Long Beach was– fabulous! You may have heard that the Long Beach Pride festival was cancelled– community organizers worked to create a free event and as our resident drag diva, Jewels said, “Cancelled? I never heard of her!”

Dyke March, Long Beach, CA 2025 by Marie Cartier

This year it is more important than ever to celebrate LGBTQ+ PRIDE. Here’s a taste of Long Beach, CA’s Dyke March. I was the emcee for the rally. My wife, Kimberly Esslinger was on the organizing committee and also created the first “Dykes After Dark” event– a poetry reading open mic– last year the poetry event was a pop-up with 15 people. This year the coffeehouse was filled to the max- 80 people or so, and the Dyke March itself had over 400. This is the thing: we need places to gather. And if you build it, we will come.

Drive-by Dyke March by Marie Cartier

That was sooo fun!!!

D-Y-K-E what’s that spell?

Dyke March!!!

Dyke March Long Beach Drive March 2020!! did the regular route and then drove by elders who requested a drive-by ♡♡♡ two hours all over town ♡♡♡ We had 20 plus cars and a posse of dykes on bikes! 15 miles of driving and spilling our joy into the night sky

Photos from the author’s collection from the historic first driving Dyke March, May 15, 2020, Long Beach, CA.

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