Thousands of LGBT people and straight allies rallied Sunday as part of the National Equality March. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

By CHRIS JOHNSON & LOU CHIBARRO JR., Washington Blade
Oct 12 2009, 1:46 PM  |     |     |  

The ground before the U.S. Capitol was flooded Sunday with tens of thousands of protesters urging Congress and President Obama to extend full legal equality to LGBT people.

The National Equality March brought participants from states across the country — some from as far away as California and Alaska — and included a strong contingent of protesters from the D.C. area.

Different contingents advocated for a variety of issues ranging from same-sex marriage, to changing immigration rules, to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Participants carried rainbow-colored flags and held up signs calling for immediate action to enact equality. The bright, nearly cloudless sky and unseasonably warm weather greeted marchers as they called for their rights.

After marching through D.C. and before the White House, participants converged on the U.S. Capitol, where a series of high-profile LGBT speakers energized the crowd and urged them to action.

Cleve Jones, a longtime gay activist and one of the chief organizers of the march, urged attendees to fight for their rights and not accept any compromises or delays proposed by public officials.

“If you believe we are equal, then it is time to act like it,” he said. “A free and equal people do not tolerate prioritization of their rights. They do not accept compromises. They do not accept delays. And when we see leaders and those who represent us saying, ’You must wait again.’ We say, ‘No! No! No longer will we wait!’”

Jones urged participants to return home and “build action teams” in all 435 congressional districts that urge lawmakers to commit to equality.

Julian Bond, the march’s keynote speaker and chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, equated the struggle for LGBT equality to a large struggle for civil rights in America.

“When I’m asked, are gay rights civil rights, my answer always is, ‘Of course they are,’” he said. “Civil rights are positive legal prerogatives — the right to equal treatment before the law. These are rights shared by everyone. There is no one in the United States who does not or who should not share and enjoy these rights.”

Dismissing the notion that comparing the struggle for LGBT rights to the black civil rights struggle diminishes the latter movement, Bond said people of color “should be flattered” that other activists have derived their rhetoric and tactics from the African-American struggle.

“Many gays and lesbians worked side by side with me in the 1960s civil rights movement,” he said. “Should I now tell them thanks for risking life and limb helping me win my rights but now they’re excluded because of a condition of their birth? … Not a chance.”

‘We must demand full equality for all’

By far, the speaker who received the most excitement and applause from attendees was Lady Gaga, a popular bisexual singer-songwriter, who called her presence at the march the “single most important moment” in her career.

“I am also inspired by the masses of all the young people here today,” she said. “The younger generation, my generation, we are the ones coming up in the world. And we must continue to push this movement forward and close the gap. We must demand full equality for all.”

Lady Gaga called on Obama to fulfill his promises of new rights and protections for LGBT Americans, and said people “will continue to push you and your administration to bring your words of promise to a reality.”

She also took a dig at gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who was earlier quoted as saying that that only pressure protesters would apply during the march was on the grass.

“We are putting more than pressure on this grass,” she said. “And today, this grass is ours. We will come away today and continue to do the work in our own back yards with our local politicians.”

Calling herself “a woman with the most beautiful gay fans in the whole world,” Lady Gaga said she refuses to accept any misogyny or homophobia in lyrics or the music industry.

Another speaker who generated noticeable excitement was David Mixner, a gay Democratic activist, who reiterated his call for Obama to issue a stop-loss order to prevent the discharges of gay service members under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“On ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ we elected you, Mr. President, not to be led by Congress but to lead Congress,” Mixner said. “So let us help you find your way. Today, in your office, cut off all funding for the prosecution of our soldiers. Tomorrow, when you walk into your Oval Office, issue a stop-loss order.”

Lesbian activist Urvashi Vaid, former executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, was among a handful of rally speakers to call for linking the LGBT movement with efforts to defeat “right wing” forces in the country.

She defined the right wing, among other things, as religious “fundamentalists of all faiths.”

“I’m not here just to stand up as a lesbian,” she said. “I’m here as a woman, I’m here as an immigrant. I’m here against racism. I’m here for health care for all. I’m here for freedom of expression. I’m here to change the status quo — because I believe in America and I believe in the future of this country.”

Organizers of the march called the event a success and were pleased with the number of participants. Bruce Bastian, a gay philanthropist who donated $100,000 to stage the march, told the Blade that the turnout was “much more than any of us even dreamed.”

“You saw it at [protests following the passage of California’s] Prop 8, you know,” he said. “I think people felt disenfranchised for so long, are fed up and … they want change, and they’re tired of waiting around, they’re tired of Congress jerking us around.”

Several speakers associated with the march, including co-organizer Tanner Efinger, urged people at the rally to take out their cell phones and send an immediate text message identifying the zip code of their home residence to a special number.

According to Efinger, the cell phone numbers and zip codes of the senders would be compiled by a newly formed group, Equality Across America, which plans to build a “national grassroots network” of organizers in each of the nation’s 435 congressional districts.

The number released for sending the messages was 37686.

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