New March, New Movement

The Equality March was a success.

I didn't think it would be, honestly. I was worried about the lack of publicity, a sense of organizational disorganization, the tepid response from our trusted national organizations.

I was worried that the March would wind up being a few shirtless guys and a megaphone.

But I was wrong.

Thanks partly to Barack Obama deciding to speak the night before at HRC, the March brought positive national press attention to our issues. And enough people came - perhaps 200,000 from across the country - that it strengthened our sense of community and unity.

But perhaps most importantly, the March showed that we are now a different movement. We are a movement that knows what it is doing. We are a movement that will win.

The gay civil rights movement has slalomed through many iterations over the past 40 years. There were the Stonewall days, when we were trying to stop police harassment; the lesbian separatism of the 1970s; and the '90s era of identity politics, when we were determined to celebrate - and make the country accept- our distinct culture.

But the feel of the Equality March was very different.

This wasn't about outsiders seeking visibility. It was about ordinary people wondering why we weren't being treated like everyone else.

Despite the sunny weather, men weren't marching with their shirts off. There was no lesbian fire eating. No boas. This wasn't about a celebration of individual flamboyance or the acknowledgement of sub-identities. This was about showing Washington and the world that we are serious about our rights. That we will not be silent. That we will not back down.

Sure, there were groups of Christians and bears and anarchists and an amazing number of straight supporters. But by the end, the crowd mostly flowed together, with couples with children marching beside a guy in a chicken suit and everyone stopping by the White House for a photo.

Marchers carried signs that expressed rights-fatigue: "Tired of carrying signs," one said. "I got married. Why can't my moms?" said another.

We have spent the year protesting and marching thanks to the fallout over the passage of Proposition 8 last November, and all that activism shows. Even our young people are no longer new to this. We know what to say. We know what to do. We chant, sure, but mostly we walk, holding our rainbow flags high, making a statement through our peaceful presence.

There were a few celebrities, most notably Lady Gaga. But even they were about protesting, not performing. This wasn't a march to express our buying power or our party power. It was about our staying power. It was a march that said, "No matter how tired we get, how long we've been doing this, how much our feet hurt, we will stay the course."

Washington was empty over Columbus Day weekend. No Senators were looking out their windows to see the human river below. The White House was quiet. The center of DC felt almost deserted. There were none of the Pride Day crowds; no beer-swilling gawkers. No thump of dance music.

There was only a sense of determination. Of public will. Of the fierce belief that we deserve equality and if we demand it loud enough and long enough, we will get it.

The Equality March was less about who we are and more about what we can - and will - do.

The Equality March said to the country: We are not outsiders. We are Americans who were born equal. And it is time Washingon recognizes that.

8 Comments for “New March, New Movement”

  1. posted by Jorge on

    For some reason I’m not hearing a heck of a lot about the generational or other divides within the gay community this time. They’re still there. And I’m hearing a lot less derision from the gay rights community’s critics. As you say, there are still celebrities and anarchists. There has been a sea change. It feels like the voice of the gay community has changed to something both centrist and progressive at the same time, something inclusive and passionate. As an ex-liberal, I am very happy about it.

  2. posted by tristram on

    Washington state and Maine will tell us in less than 3 weeks whether or not The March was a success.

  3. posted by Trailrunnr on

    Maybe we’re not hearing so much about the divides within the gay community because as Jennifer pointed out, something new is uniting us, a sense of impatience, a clarity of goal. I came out swinging (so to speak) in 1970 and have seen all the iterations of this so called gay community thru the years. Never have I been so encouraged as now. As I got older, it’s become easier for me to take a long look at the big picture. “Generational or other divides within the gay community” are still there, yes, but compared to the progress we’ve made and are about to make, they are increasingly petty and insignificant. To me anyway. I still expect there to be younger activists who won’t let go of their attachment to internal squabbling and disdain for any point of view other than their own.

  4. posted by Billy Glover on

    I agree with the thoughts-we are a vast community/movement, a diverse one, and finally we seem to accept ourselves, so that it is reflected in our having less need for flamboyance, although we don’t want to lose that, but a glance at a copy of Gayellow Pages will show even the most closeted person how really many of us and our groups and publications there are-nd we are growing.

  5. posted by fraught on

    Marches on Washington are always younger and less rowdy than local street demonstrations. They are invigorating and uplifting but they are also exhausting to go to especially if you are from out of town and have to travel in crowded caravans beginning at dawn to get there. There are few places to sit and rest and anyone who has attended many of these events can tell you they are frequently deadly boring for long periods. These marches give a skewed perspective of the real constituency of any mobilization because older folks don’t go in large numbers, the handicapped and disabled stay home in large numbers and as far as this march was concerned, the trans community seemed only marginally represented. (Heels all day on the Mall can be murder.) Also, referencing the generational divide, I would have to point out that there was a terrible decimation of gay men of a certain age, during the eighties and early nineties, who would certainly have wanted to have been out there holding signs, walking hand and hand with their husbands and kids, but who unfortunetly died cruel deaths despite previous marches which failed to save them. This march, which could have turned into an ugly tirade against a benign authority figure who would never have permanently disowned his detractors, was very much in the spirit of this movement’s youngest members (organizers thanking their moms and dads from the podium for contributing to their success in …organizing the march.) But the numbers of supporters watching from home, those men who no longer take their shirts off in public, those former fire-eating lesbians living far from Washington with their wives and kids, cannot be accurately calculated.

  6. posted by The Gay Species on

    Jennifer,

    You make Faux Infotainment look reliable. Even the “organizers” of the march insist several thousands (20 thousand) appeared on the Mall. You just exponenated the impossible, ala, Glenn Beck.

    Perhaps you noticed the wrath directed at the President and HRC for “sermonizing,” yet again, but not “acting.” Preaching is cheap, and protest marches only build community, not change anything politically. As I copied from another: “Put Up, or Shut Up.”

    Now, I DO find camaraderie among the gay brothers and sisters an affirmative action, as San Franciscans have long held Castro Street, Folsom Street, Polk Street, and Gay Pride Fairs. We need to see and “kick the tires,” so to speak. Besides, it is great fun. But, if we continue to elect politicians that “preach, but cannot act,” next week’s sermon will be a repeat of last week’s sermon.

    As a gay pioneer, I know that our numbers will not effect or affect anything. But I also know that Ronald Reagan, hardly a gay icon, once said, echoing Martin Luther King, “if anyone is unfree, we all are.” I would simply augment this great line to read, “if anyone is unequal, we all are.” But you won’t hear that from Barry, Nancy, Harry, Geoff, Joe, or all the other “invested” people for special interests, because for THEM it is a zero-sum game. Only “constituents” benefit at another “constituents'” loss.

    Granted, it does not comport with “we the people,” it does not vindicate, “we hold these truths to be self-evident,” it does not comply with “legislate for the common welfare,” because in the first and final analysis, it is not about US but THEM.

  7. posted by Richard J. Rosendall on

    How will the march’s success be measured? If the incrementalist strategy that the march organizers explicitly opposed and denigrated succeeds, will they claim credit for it? You mention that “Washington was empty over Columbus Day weekend. No Senators were looking out their windows to see the human river below.” What, then, was accomplished by marching and rallying in Washington? Shouldn’t the participants’ determination have been spent more productively? If and when the action teams mobilize in each congressional district, will their lobbying consist of saying, “Total equality now,” or will they be armed with detailed talking points, issue by issue? Will they urge members of Congress to oppose separate DOMA and DADT repeals, etc.? I don’t object to cheerleading, but what is the team trying to do? Judging by the statements of Cleve Jones and company, not much other than posturing.

  8. posted by Mike in Houston on

    As someone who was there — for both President Obama’s speech and for the March — I have to agree with Jennifer’s conclusions.

    The screaming and yelling of Stonewall through ACT-UP have been replaced with a calmer, yet equally assertive resolve and standing our ground.

    To ‘gayspecies’ — Jennifer’s crowd estimate is entirely plausible. The staging area for the march was packed end-to-end for several blocks and spilled out into the side streets. People were still marching to the Capitol steps for well over an hour into the speeches. My group was about mid-way through, and the lawn was completely full by the time we got to the Capitol.

    To Richard Rosendall — much more than cheerleading or posturing occurred as a result of this March. I don’t know of a single person in attendance that didn’t come away energized and ready to work that much harder at both local and federal levels to make change happen.

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