IGF contributing author Richard J. Rosendall watched last weekend's rally at the Lincoln Memorial marking the 40th anniversary Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. He reports that neither of the gay activists who spoke -- Matt Foreman of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, and Mandy Carter of Southerners on New Ground -- mentioned the fight to gain equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, or efforts to build a coalition to oppose the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. Their silence was presumably in deference to the rally organizers, who also chose to say nothing on the marriage rights question so as not to give offense to anti-gay black religious leaders.
Says Rick:
"Our relationships" was the closest Foreman came to mentioning marriage. It would have been comical if he had been explicit about how those awful Republicans are attacking gay marriage rights, as he stood a few feet from Walter Fauntroy, the favorite front man for the anti-gay Alliance for Marriage. How convenient for Foreman that it's all a simple partisan matter, and how pathetic that this would be seen by anyone as a serious voice of gay activism.
We'll be posting Rick's upcoming column on the rally
shortly.
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