Millennium March on Washgton 2000 · Wearg Gay History

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS
• GAY RIGHTS MARCHERS PRS CSE WASHGTON
• GAY MARCH ON WASHGTON 2000 MAY TAKE MONEY, ENERGY OM OTHER AREAS
• GAY MARCHERS WILL FLEX POLIL MCLE CAPAL
• STARS LEAD GAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON

GAY RIGHTS

A five-pot platform for the march lled for passage by Congrs of a “prehensive” lbian and gay civil rights bill; a printial executive orr banng discrimatn based on sexual orientatn the feral workforce, the ary, ferally ntracted private employers; repeal of all anti-gay/lbian laws; an end to discrimatn child ctody disput for gay and lbian parents; and protectns for gay and lbian youth agast discrimatn at home or schools. Items add to the platform beyond those clud for the 1979 march clud a ll for legal regnn of lbian and gay relatnships; repeal of sodomy laws applyg to nsentg adults; an end to discrimatn agast people wh HIV/AIDS; reproductive eedom for women; and an end to racism the U.

GAY RIGHTS MARCHERS PRS CSE WASHGTON

Plans for the third march on Washgton for “Lbian, Gay, and Bi-Equal Rights and Liberatn, ” as was officially named, began prr to the 1992 printial electn while Gee H.

By the time the march took place on April 25, Print Bill Clton, who exprsed support for gay rights durg his electn mpaign, had been office for jt over two months. While march anizers were generally optimistic over a Clton Whe Hoe, some exprsed ncern that the new print appeared to be backg down om his promise to lift the ban on gays the ary followg opposn to the proposal by many Congrs.

GAY MARCH ON WASHGTON 2000 MAY TAKE MONEY, ENERGY OM OTHER AREAS

Another vol msage livered at the march was strong opposn to Colorado’s Amendment 2, a ballot measure passed by voters that banned ci and unti the state om adoptg anti-discrimatn laws protectg gays and lbians. In a break om the first three ‘gay’ Washgton march, which were iated by dividual activists, the Millennium March was iated by the Human Rights Campaign, the natn’s largt LGBT civil rights group, and the Rev.

Rather than seek put om grassroots activists and lol LGBT groups, HRC and Perry formed a march mtee on their own and hired lbian edian and events producer Rob Tyler, who had been llg for another gay march, as the march’s executive producer.

In a prs release announcg the march, the mtee boasted that rporate sponsors were beg led up to help fance the march and a long list of celebri, most of whom were gay or lbian, would be performg at a ncert durg the weekend of the planned march. Longtime gay rights advote David Mixner is creded wh iatg the march an effort to build on the groundswell of LGBT activism on social media generated by the approval by California voters of Proposn 8, a ballot measure that overturned the state’s same-sex marriage law.

GAY MARCHERS WILL FLEX POLIL MCLE CAPAL

San Francis gay rights lear Cleve Jon, founr of the Nam Project that created the AIDS Memorial Quilt, beme volved as one of the lead anizers along wh lbian activist Rob McGehee and gay activist Kip Williams.

Many Amerins today are faiar wh the history of the Cold War and how Amerin lears and policymakers fought munism abroad, but ls know of the liberate efforts rried out by the feral ernment to prevent the spread of munism the Uned Stat—cludg the surveillance and persecutn of spected “homosexual” cizens. The nsistent terratn of rights for LGBTQ+ cizens durg the “Lavenr Sre” led to the homophile movement and the first documented and anized gay rights picket at the Whe Hoe on April 17, 1965. Johnson about their tentns:A group of homosexual Amerin cizens, and those supportg their e, is picketg the Whe Hoe, today, lawful, dignified, and orrly prott— the bt Amerin tradn—agast the treatment beg meted out to fifteen ln homosexual Amerin cizens by their ernment—treatment which nstantly mak of them send-class cizens, at bt.

Johnson, brought ccial urgency, energy, and visibily to the movement for LGBTQ+ rights across Ameri and laid the foundatn for the gay liberatn movement—more radil than the prev homophile movement. Followg notable ton for LGBTQ+ equaly the 1970s, cludg the electn of openly gay polician Harvey Milk to ernment office and the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s removal of homosexualy om their list of psychiatric disorrs, the gay liberatn movement beme more vol and celebratory than ever before. At the first Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights on October 14, 1979, dividuals reclaimed and celebrated their inti before the very ernment which refed to protect them.

STARS LEAD GAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON

At least 25, 000 protters marched past the Whe Hoe, gatherg Lafayette Square and on the Natnal Mall to mand that the ernment:Pass a prehensive lbian/gay bill CongrsIssue a printial executive orr banng discrimatn based on sexual orientatn the Feral Government, the ary, and ferally ntracted private employmentRepeal all anti-gay/lbian lawsEnd discrimatn lbian mother and gay father ctody sPrott lbian and gay youth form any laws which are ed to discrimate agast, opprs and/or harass them their hom, schools, jobs, and social environments.