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Cyndi Lauper is among the artists slated to perform during a Jan. 20 inaugural event sponsored by 18 gay advocacy groups. Tickets to the event, titled ‘Out for Equality,’ start at $350. (Photo by Kevin Ferguson/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: CHRIS JOHNSON COMMENTS
 
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participate in a presidential inaugural parade, which follows Obama’s swearing-in ceremony.
Judy Ames, the LGBA’s inaugural committee co-chair and a lesbian saxophone player for the Flower City Pride Band in Rochester, N.Y., said the process for applying and finding out her group had been selected was “pretty emotional.”
“We really weren’t sure we were going to get invited to march,” she said. “When that call finally came, it was pretty overwhelming. We really have a place in history and we just can’t believe it.”
Cliff Norris, a member of the LGBA and a gay tuba player in the Atlanta Freedom Band, said LGBA applied earlier this year to join the parade because “the way the polls were going, it was probably going to be a good year to have a gay-inclusive president, to be in the parade.”
Norris said LGBA’s participation in the Inauguration Day parade is important “for a visibility perspective” because it “reminds people that gay and lesbian people are part of the fabric of America.”
“We are integral in the community,” he said. “We’re a part of the coalition that came together to elect the new president.”
LGBA also participated in President Clinton’s inauguration festivities in 1993 and 1997, but performed on the sidelines and was not a contingent in the parade. The group declined to apply to take part in inauguration festivities for President Bush in 2001 and 2005.
Ames said the music for the contingent has not yet been officially chosen, but the band intends
to play the “The Washington Post” march when it performs at the reviewing stand. An artistic committee was working on determining other selections.
Norris said there would be 177 slots for performers in the contingency. An e-mail distributed to LGBA members says that the contingent has spots for musicians, flags, twirlers, honor guard and banner holders. Participants will wear a silver baseball-style jacket, similar to the ones the band wore for Clinton’s inauguration celebrations, and blue berets.
A Presidential Inaugural Com-mittee spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that more than 1,300 groups applied to take part in the festivities and the committee was still deciding this week which groups would perform.
Past committees have traditionally released its recommendations for parade contingents on Dec. 10, but no announcements were made before Blade deadline.
A grassroots group based in San Francisco called “In the Parade” is encouraging<
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