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National Equality March: Images and Words
It was not in the cards for me to be in Washington DC this weekend for the National Equality March but I certainly was there in spirit with my LGBT brothers and sisters and straight allies.
Just looking at these photos I’ve compiled from Huffington Post, Advocate.com and NYTimes.com, you can see the energy and passion in the crowd of approximately 200,000. The New York Times reports that it was the largest demonstration for gay rights here in nearly a decade.
Huffintgton Post writes that march organizer Cleve Jones, creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and a protege of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk, said he had initially discouraged a rally earlier in the year. But he and others began to worry Obama was backing away from his campaign promises.
“Since we’ve seen that so many times before, I didn’t want it to happen again,” he said. “We’re not settling. There’s no such thing as a fraction of equality.”
Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, one of the highest-profile lesbians in show business, was among those who addressed the crowd of approximately 200,000: “It’s time for us to make the president move beyond words. The right sentiment just isn’t enough anymore.”
Lt. Dan Choi (pictured with Billie Myers) began his day with a jog around Washington’s memorials. The West Point graduate, Arabic speaker and Iraq war veteran, is facing discharge under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for revealing in March that he is gay. He said at the rally: “Many of us have been discharged from the service because we told the truth. But I know that love is worth it.”
longtime straight ally Judith Light, currently one of the stars of ABC’s Ugly Betty, sits with activist David Mixner.
Four-time Tony winner and Private Practice star Audra MacDonald with the cast of the Broadway musical Hair wait for their turn to perform. The Hair cast missed their Sunday matinee to participate in the march,
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Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Andrew says:
There were about 20,000 people at the March. Lying doesn’t help our community.
David says:
Andrew, I do not know what march you were at but you certainly were not witnessing the Equality March. I attend, every year the Pride March in Columbus Ohio and thier march is well over 100,000 people this past June and this one in Washington had to be almost double that without a doubt. There were so many that we could not all get on Capital Hill and literally thousands were out on the other side of the entrance wall.