With engines revving, the Sirens Women’s+ Motorcycle Club of NYC roared down West 13th Street on Sunday, April 19, to mark Lesbian Visibility Week and participate in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center’s ceremonial raising of the Lesbian Flag.
“It’s always cool to ride up to the Center,” Sirens President Brooke “Savage” Severance said in an interview with Gay City News. “It’s our home every month for our monthly meeting but it means something special to ride up and celebrate lesbians at the Center and all that they do to support the community.”
Lesbian Visibility Week, which takes place this year from Monday, April 20 to Sunday, April 26, is an international movement that works to foster lesbian community and fight erasure and discrimination. This year, the Center partnered with the Curve Foundation and Manhattan Assemblymember Deborah Glick to add depth and intentionality to the event with an official proclamation from the State Assembly recognizing the Sirens for their commitment to the 66th Assembly District (Greenwich Village).
“Visibility … means taking up space authentically, being protected, and being respected,” said Center CEO Dr. Carla Smith, who presented the proclamation alongside Brooklyn Councilmember Crystal Hudson and Curve Foundation and magazine founder Franco Stevens. “Today we affirm that lesbian lives, leadership, love, and legacy are vital to our community.”
Stevens echoed this sentiment: “Our mission is really clear and simple. We want to uplift the lives of the people in our community, we want to stop the erasure of our history, and we want to uplift the journalists who tell our stories, because nobody can tell them like we do.”
Stevens paused for a beat, then continued: “Now before I go, when I say ‘Let’s go!’, you say ‘Lesbians!’”
After the flag was raised, festivities continued inside the Center with a brunch panel discussing the impact of women and LGBTQIA+ bikers in the community, especially in a field that is traditionally dominated by men.
“We used to ride with someone who would wear big sunglasses, a big hat,” Sirens Founding Member Jacqui Sturgess said, reflecting on the Sirens’ legacy of more than 40 years. “Then we’d go past Saks Fifth Avenue and she’d look the other way for fear someone would see her.”\
Today, more than 70 Sirens members of all ages honor the legacies of the bikers who came before them, with the Sirens leading almost every Pride March in the city as well as participating in other rides across the region.
“When you learn to ride, you learn to command the road, you take a position in your lane that dominates that bit of territory,” Sturgess said. “By the same token … All of us are strong women, and we are supporting each other to make sure that we are strong and able to hold our own …. And not just be permitted, but to take up space.”
The Sirens encouraged attendees to seek out motorcycle lessons and get their licenses, emphasizing the power and visibility that comes with riding a motorcycle across New York City as a leather-clad lesbian.
“I grew up learning to equate blending in with safety,” said Sirens Vice President Diane “Radar” Barnes during the panel, “but I really turn that formula on its head intentionally when I ride.”
