First March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights - October 14, 1979

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS MARCH WASHGTON
• GAY RIGHTS MARCHERS PRS CSE WASHGTON
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS THE UNED STAT: NATNAL MARCH ON WASHGTON FOR LBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS
• GAY ACTIVISTS QUTN MARCH ON WASHGTON
• DEBATE OVER GAY MARCH EXPOS SPL APPROACH
• GAY RIGHTS
• MARCHERS IN WASHGTON PRS FOR GAY RIGHTS
• GAY AND LBIAN MARCH ON WASHGTON
• GAY US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY MARCH BUDAPT PRI MARCH
• GAY RIGHTS MARCH ON WASHGTON, OCTOBER 11
• AS CRICISM OF OBAMA MOUNTS WH GAY COMMUNY, GAY RIGHTS PNEER CLEVE JON CALLS FOR MARCH FOR EQUALY ON WASHGTON

GAY RIGHTS MARCH WASHGTON

Doug Armstrong, 35, of Washgton, left, blows bubbl at Andhati Ban-Mayer Eidger, 5, as she walks wh her mother Alexis Ban-Mayer Eidger, of Washgton, center, durg the Natnal Equaly March wh thoands of gay rights advot Washgton, Sunday, Oct. 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.

GAY RIGHTS MARCHERS PRS CSE WASHGTON

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.

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. 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.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS THE UNED STAT: NATNAL MARCH ON WASHGTON FOR LBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS

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 ACTIVISTS QUTN MARCH ON WASHGTON

11, 2009WASHINGTON — Impatient and disuraged by what they see as a certa tachment by Print Obama on their issu, gay rights supporters took to the streets Sunday the largt monstratn for gay rights here nearly a rally was primarily the unrtakg of a new generatn of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr advot who have grown disillned wh the movement’s as Stonewall 2.

”The print did not lay out a timetable to repeal the ban on gays and lbians servg openly the ary, voice support for any of the battl gog on at state levels to allow same-sex upl more regnn unr the law nor mentn the march.

DEBATE OVER GAY MARCH EXPOS SPL APPROACH

” The Human Rights Campaign, which helped anize the last gay rights march on Washgton 2000 but had virtually no volvement Sunday’s event, stirred up some ntroversy over the weekend after s print, Joe Solmone, wrote a letter to supporters urgg them to take Mr. " Many worry that the march will amount to ltle more than a big party and dra rourc om cril fights ragg elsewhere — such as the ballot qutns that would repeal gay marriage Mae and overturn domtic partner benefs Washgton state.

GAY RIGHTS

WASHINGTON — Tens of thoands of gays, lbians and supporters marched through the natn’s pal Sunday a ftive, forceful ll for equaly, culmatg a boistero rally at the Natnal Equaly March took place one day after Print Obama ma sweepg pledg to the gay muny, cludg a vow to end the ary policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” -- which bans gays and lbians om servg openly the armed forc.

“For this print to keep throwg out of the ary is unnscnable, ” Los Angel Cy Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a gay man and Army veteran, said an, at the Capol rally, Rosendahl told the crowd that 36 stat allow hog discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and 29 stat perm firgs on those grounds. Organizers of Sunday’s march said the LGBT muny (lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people) is not satisfied wh a piecemeal approach to civil years after the Stonewall rts New York lnched the gay rights movement, they are mandg “full feral equaly” and sglg out marriage, adoptn, ary service and workplace marchers wore purple T-shirts exhortg: “Legalize gay. Daniel Choi, an Iraq bat veteran facg discharge for disclosg his sexual orientatn; Babs Siperste, a transsexual member of the Democratic Natnal Commtee; glam rocker Lady Gaga; and Michael Huffgton, a Republin and former ngrsman om lked gay rights to civil rights.

MARCHERS IN WASHGTON PRS FOR GAY RIGHTS

But a march planned for Sunday on the Mall Washgton is exposg ep divisns among gay rights advot around the untry as they grapple wh whether to ntue phg for gas state by state, or embrace a more aggrsive strategy to prsure the Obama admistratn and Congrs for feral march is occurrg as referendum mpaigns Mae and Washgton State seek to overturn laws that expand the rights of same-sex upl. Faced wh the specter of a feat siar to the passage of Proposn 8 California last year, gay rights advot have spl over whether an unrtakg as large and expensive as a march on Washgton will e at the expense of ballot fights this bate around the march — the first mass gatherg of gay rights supporters Washgton sce 2000 — suggts that as the AIDS crisis has reced, gay activists have had a more difficult time mobilizg around a more diffe agenda, cludg issu like same-sex marriage and anti-discrimatn laws.

“We n be thankful that the threat of AIDS has ebbed and is no longer the ath warrant was, but that also turns down the flame of nscns, ” said Dudley Clenden, a scholar of the Amerin gay movement who teach at Johns Hopks Universy. ”Activists of this mdset believe that wh a large Democratic majory Congrs and a Democrat the Whe Hoe, now is the ial time to take on issu like overturng the ban on gay men and lbians servg openly the ary and the 1996 Defense of Marriage Wilson/Associated Prs“There has never been a better time than now, ” said David Mixner, a longtime advote for gay rights. ” Equaly Oh has also cled to endorse the activists are not the only on who are natn’s largt gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr advocy group, the Human Rights Campaign, waed nearly three months after the ia was first proposed May before agreed to get on board.

“One of the worst ias ever, ” was the ial judgment of Bil Browng, a wily read gay left to right: Philip Stt Andrews/Associated Prs; Chris Ramirez for The New York Tim; Pat Wellenbach/Associated PrsOf urse, other gay lears say the bate do not have to be amed eher/or terms. Longtime gay rights advot said they have seen a surge activism among people their 20s and 30s, who seemed pecially energized after the passage of Proposn 8 California, which outlawed same-sex marriage that state, and gave many of them their first taste of adversy.

GAY AND LBIAN MARCH ON WASHGTON

Williams and the other -director, Rob McGehee, 36, said they had reced a nsirable share of volunteers and march participants through the Inter and whout the help of natnal and state gay advocy has characterized prev such march on Washgton, 1978, 1987, 1993 and 2000. “Whenever you have the kds of events, on that seek to portray a natnal public image for a group of people, you’re gog to see this kd of dissent, ” said Am Ghaziani, a post-doctoral fellow at Prceton who wrote a book on the prev gay rights seen by the endorsement of groups like the Human Rights Campaign that were ially ristant to the march, there are signs some of the dissent is beg rolved. Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

GAY US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY MARCH BUDAPT PRI MARCH

Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels. Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group.

”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.

GAY RIGHTS MARCH ON WASHGTON, OCTOBER 11

Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review. That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D.

”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

" This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad.

AS CRICISM OF OBAMA MOUNTS WH GAY COMMUNY, GAY RIGHTS PNEER CLEVE JON CALLS FOR MARCH FOR EQUALY ON WASHGTON

1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials. Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event. Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri.

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985. But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12, 000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999) 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn.