OFF THE WIRE
The Devil Dolls, an all-female motorcycle group, demonstrated Sunday morning to protest the cancellation of the group’s anniversary party at a San Francisco gun club due what they say is unfair profiling by San Francisco police and other officials, an organizer said.
The motorcycle organization, based in San Francisco, had booked the Pacific Rod and Gun Club for its 15 anniversary party and fundraiser in December but was told last week the club had cancelled the booking, Devil Dolls president Theresa Foglio said.
The gun club’s booking coordinator told Foglio that the Devil Dolls’ reservation was cancelled because the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission “did not want bikers here,” Foglio said.
“I have grandmothers, mothers, daughters,” Foglio said. “I have veterans in the (biker) club. None of us have criminal records. It’s really odd.”
The protest, outside the gun club, at 520 John Muir Dr. by Lake Merced in San Francisco, started at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
Many police officers were stationed at the demonstration, according to Foglio.
The woman’s biker group was shocked by the news last week after the gun Club sent back its deposit for the party, which was to feature music by a disc jockey and vendors selling jewelry and various food items, including gourmet cupcakes, for charities, Foglio said.
The Devil Dolls, established in 1999, is known for its charity work with music and food fairs for children’s diseases and has helped San Francisco Fire Department with toy donation drives, Foglio said.
Those in the 20-member biker club feel they were pegged as potentially violent or rowdy the way bikers have been portrayed on TV shows such as “Gangland” and “Sons of Anarchy,” Foglio said.
“It isn’t fair to take what’s on TV and say that is reality,” Foglio said.
“We’re all women,” Foglio said. “It’s about the love of the motorcycle.”
The Devil Dolls sometimes holds motorcycle runs with guests driving together to the East Bay and other locations, Foglio said.
“It’s amazing when you have 100 female bikers behind you,” she said.
Jeff Burbank, Bay City News