On June 23rd, ten lesbians attended the San Francisco Dyke March together, four carrying signs affirming lesbian autonomy and educating about the dangers of giving children puberty blockers. These lesbians were harassed throughout the march, and two, myself and my partner, were specifically targeted and physically assaulted on numerous occasions by trans rights activists.

The San Francisco Dyke March, and now also the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Bay Area Reporter, have ALL posted defamatory and libelous statements positioning the victims as the actual attackers, which is a complete reversal of the truth. Neither of the victims were ever contacted by these three sources to confirm or deny these harmful allegations.

We demand justice through full retraction of these statements with apologies to the victims.  We also urge everyone to email these three entities and demand the same. Below you will find included the email sent by myself, which explains in detail what actually occured, as well as contact information for the San Francisco Dyke March, NCLR and Bay Area Reporter.

Since there is a harmful defamation campaign in action initiated by the trans rights activist hate group Degenderettes, we strongly advise not including your given name when signing this petition to avoid being added to their blacklist.                                                                                        

"To Whom It May Concern:

 It has come to our attention that the San Francisco Dyke March has posted a libelous and grossly inaccurate statement about our interactions while attending the 2018 San Francisco Dyke March on June 23rd.

Apparently this misinformation originated from a defamation blog by trans activist and Degenderette Kitty Stryker on her personal website, which was reiterated by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Bay Area Reporter and your organization.   None of the aforementioned sources have once attempted to reach out to us lesbians to verify our account of what occured. It is my intent in this email to set the record straight and ask that you retract this statement, as it is completely false, and quite harmful to us, and to the entire LGBT community.

We, a group of 10 lesbians, primarily 60 years old and up, some with physical disabilities, such as my partner, come from varying ethnicities and political backgrounds, ranging from liberal to radical feminist.   Four of us carried signs. Two of the women had signs stating, "Lesbian, Not Queer". My partner and I had two-sided signs, mine saying, "Biology Is Not Bigotry" on one side, and, "You Can't Silence Us With Violence ~Resist Lesbian Erasure~" on the other.   

The first side is in reference to the policing and redefining of biological and anatomical terms used to define biological XX chromosomed females, which, in turn, has harmful consequences, including, but not limited to, misdiagnosing/mistreating in medical conditions. The reverse side was intended to address the more violent and menacing factions of the transgender movement, in particular the Degenderettes, who have campaigned against women who are not willing to comply with their agenda, i.e. not accepting the rewriting of how females are defined, and especially lesbians being forced to acknowledge male bodied individuals as potential sexual partners.  

The Degenderettes are well known for their aggressive tactics, including wielding barbed wire covered baseball bats and hatchets, and wearing, "I Punch TERFS" bloodied tshirts.  

My partner's two-sided sign read on one side, "Change Our Society Not Your Body" and on the other, "Dangers of Puberty Blockers", listing several of the serious health risks for children when administered the dangerous drug Lupron.  

Our intentions were genuine and heartfelt, based upon our concerns for the safety and wellbeing of lesbian women and children.  We in no way support violence or intimidation of ANY marginalized group, including trans identifying people.  

This is the account of what happened to my partner and I, who were the main targets of hostility and physical aggression:  

We arrived at the Dyke March right around 5pm when it began and joined the procession, signs raised above our heads.  We hadn't marched but a block or so when a young woman with a bullhorn began yelling, instructing the crowd to tear down our signs, telling us to go home, that we weren't welcome there, and inciting the chants, "TERFS go home!" and, "Hey hey, ho ho, transphobes gotta go!"   

As the march proceeded, the crowd grew increasingly hostile, with several people crowding into our space and bumping into us. My sign was torn from my hands on three or four occasions, of which twice I retrieved it, and once another woman we had met at the march retrieved for me.  

The atmosphere became even more volatile.  As the chants became louder, I was suddenly pushed to the ground by an unknown assailant. I quickly recovered to my feet and continued marching silently, sign above my head. (It is to be noted that I was silent throughout the march, while my partner repeatedly shouted, "We're not violent! We don't hate you! We're just speaking for lesbian and children's rights!")  

As the march continued, me now holding my torn sign above my head, I was knocked down a second time by another unknown assailant.  When I got back on my feet I noticed a police officer and yelled, "Police!" twice. The officer quickly made his way over and ordered the crowd to give me space, as to which they complied in that moment.  

We continued marching, and as the mob closed in once again, my partner began walking behind me to shield me from the encroaching crowd. Unbeknownst to me at the time was the fact that one of the perpetrators, who we have on audio threatening my partner after she said we're not violent with, "We WILL be, bitch!", was continuously stepping on her heels, and eventually rammed my partner's hip with her own, causing my partner to fall to the ground, breaking her mobility cane which she uses for support since she has metal plates in her knee.  I was unfortunately oblivious to the attack as it occured behind me.  

We continued marching for a couple more blocks when I was knocked to the ground for the third and final time.  The remainder of our group had either lagged behind or stayed near the perimeter of the march for safety through the duration, for the exception of one lesbian in her 70s, who did come up from behind me at one point, wrapping her arms around me in a protective embrace, which I misunderstood as an attack, swinging my arm out to release myself, then quickly apologizing when I realized who it was.  

After the third physical assault on me (by the same woman who had assaulted my partner), and the ever increasing hostility from the crowd, a group consensus was made to exit the march, about two blocks from the end.

We spoke with several police officers and insisted on a police escort back to the BART station, as there was by then a semi-circle of forty to fifty angry marchers formed around us.  Two officers walked us a few blocks away and we continued without further incident, eventually arriving back at the BART station safely.  

We at NO time laid our hands on any marchers, nor shouted the alleged transphobic slogans.  These are outrageous lies and it is preposterous to even conceive that a small group of mostly elder/disabled lesbians would even attempt to attack young able-bodied people.  Clearly the events have been reversed.   We have video footage illustrating the hostility of the crowd, my torn sign, the threat of violence toward my partner, and of the perpetrator who bullied and attacked my partner, and myself on at least one of the three occasions.  We also have a photo of the large bruise my partner received on her hip as a result of her attack.  

With this detailed and truthful account I implore you to retract your libelous and defamatory statement.    

Sincerely,   

Sherri Golden"                                                                                                                  ---                                               

Contact Info:   San Francisco Dyke March: info@thedykemarch.org National Center for Lesbian Rights:  info@NCLRights.org Bay Area Reporter: Attn: Christina A. Dieorardo, christina@dieorardolaw.com

 

*Side note/correction to my statement: The 70 something lesbian I mentioned, Max Dashu, was indeed marching close to us throughout the march, continuously protecting us from behind against the impending crowd, which at the time I was unaware of. I am very grateful for her brave efforts, as well as a lesbian we had met there who also came to our defense a few times. If not for the actions of my partner and these two brave womyn the outcome could have had much worse results. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.