| Hi Justine,
I didn't see you :-) there. There were several of us (DEC folk)
there. I'm still sorting out my impressions, feeling of this whole weekend.
The Names project still touchs me with sadness. How many more lives
Mr. President? "We are a gay and lesbian people...and we are marching
for our lives." We are marching for our civil rights. I don't give
a da*n about the numbers. If you saw the photos from the helicopters
on the news they will tell you the numbers...I am so proud of us,
each time we "comeout", and stand togeather to be counted it gets
easier. One day perhaps the gay and lesbian children of the future
will no be taunted with, "Faggot, queer,dyke,sissy", or be forced
to feel fear, and hatred as they hide in their closets, to paraphrase
Robin Tyler the woman comic who organized this march.
I'm sorry my writing is a bit disjointed. I got home this morning
at 5:00 am, after driving from DC...I got into work at 9:00 am.
I'm sleepy but proud of all of us. Got to go...Blessed be to all
of us and a congrats are due to Flora (the magic still shows in your
face)...goodnight
5,000 people got married Saturday...many Dec folks formalized their
vows I didn't go I always cry at weddings,marchs....overcome with
feeling and loving it.
MaggieT
MaggieT
|
|
The March on Washington....
Justine sorry I missed you at the march. It was a little difficult to find
someone in a crowd of half a million!
Maggie, thanks for your congratulations.
The March was an incredible experience. I think I'm still so caught up in
the emotion of it, that I'm having a hard time articulating what I feel.
We drove down from N.H. on Friday. We met hundreds along the way. We
all seemed to know who we were, and where we were going. A lot of smiles,
a lot of helloes.
Saturday we went to the Wedding - not intending to actually "do it". We
didn't want to buy into the patriarchal institution of marriage. I was
very opposed to it. However - It turned out to be decidedly feminist,
radical, political, uniquely lesbian and gay. How could I pass up all
of that, and also show/tell Suzanne how much I value our bond of love and
caring! So, even though I still shudder at the word marriage...we did
it! It's quite a feeling to be in the midst of 10,000 people who would
risk their jobs, homes and very lives to make a public statement about
loving another person.
I am an "out" lesbian, or at least I thought I was. What struck me was
how much energy I spend not being who I am. To be able to walk down
the street holding Suzanne's hand, to share - spontaneously - our love
for each other in a touch, a smile, a hug....without fear of harassment
or physical violence - all of the things that most people take for
granted - was a poignant experience. It was also shattering. We
fool ourselves into believing we have a whole life....we have only
what we carve out for ourselves in our lesbian and gay communities,
or the privacy of our own home. It is a tribute to lesbian and gay
couples, and the communities of lesbians and gays that support them,
that those unions flourish and survive.
I have incredible pride in my community. I have incredible shame for
the larger community of people who oppress those who want the right to
a whole life. I don't understand why someone wants to hurt me, or
harass me, or kill me because I love another human being. How does
love invoke hate?
I would like to write more about the March, but right now I feel very
introspective, and I need to sort out the other pieces of my experiences
in D.C.
Flora
|
|
(This is part of my reply entered in another notesfile re: The March on
Washington. I still get a chill thinking about being there.)
Morgue-wallking (and that's what it felt like to me) through the Names
Project was an intense experience. I couldn't help but think that the names of
murdered Central Americans should have been superimposed on the panels
because the funds that massacred them could have been used to save those
memorialized in the Names Project.
And the media was generally being themselves...I didn't expect that their
crowd estimates would be close to reality. Should make one wonder about the
lies they publish day in and day out.
On that note I'd like to submit an article from THE SUN (Baltimore, Maryland)
dated 10-12-87.
GAYS MARCH ON WASHINGTON BY THOUSANDS
Shadow of Aids looms over festivity
By Abby Karp
Sun Staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of supporters of gay rights marched in
sadness, anger and triumph through the streets here yesterday, both mourning
their brethren who are dead or dying from AIDS and celebrating a historic show
of solidarity.
The demonstrators called for a Federal law against discrimination based on
sexual preference and a massive infusion of money into AIDS care and research.
An estimated 1,000 Baltimoreans joined in the second national gay march.
The crowd was estimated to be between 200,000 and 600,000 people, making the
rally the largest gay rights demonstration int he country.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a Democratic candidate for president, spoke at
the rally on the Mall after the five-hour procession. "I am here because I
care," he said. "I came because I disagree with those who try to divide us,
who want to isolate you or me or anyone who's different."
He called for more money to find a cure for AIDS and a national health care
system. "Let's fight death," he told an appreciative crowd, including AIDS
patients wrapped in pink blankets against the chilly air. "Let's end AIDS."
The march was the centerpiece of six days in WAshington of lobbying and
protests by gays. The final event will take place at the Supreme Court
tomorrow, when hundreds are expected to be arrested during a planned
demonstration to protest the court's upholding of state sodomy laws.
The week "is a time to stand up and be counted," said Frank Fox, president
of Dignity Baltimore, a Catholic gay group. "We're here to see that research
gets funded for AIDS, to advance the cause of the gay-rights bill and to do
away with laws telling people what they can do in bed."
The bill, labeled the civil rights amendment act of 1987, is sponsored by
Representative Ted Weiss, D-N.Y. and Sen. Alan B. Cranston, D-Calif.
No confrontations or arrests occurred during the march, which began around
noon with a contingent of people with AIDS, some on foot, some in wheelchairs.
Gay and lesbian organizations of all sorts and their supporters participated,
including labor unions, parents of gays and representatives of more than
a dozen religions. There were groups of gay psychiatrists, lawyers, doctors,
and students.
There were also about a dozen spirited marching bands and many groups with
light-hearted banners, such as "Gays Without Dates","Radical Faeries"
and "The Cute Girl Society." A twosome marched carrying the signs "I love
my lesbian daughter" and "I love my straight father".
But the most persistent theme sounded during the march was the AIDS
crisis. Even in the most festive sections of the lively parade, there
were reminders of the disease that has killed more than 24,000 Americans,
the majority of whom were gay men. Among these sights were a woman pushing
and empty wheelchair, a man with purple welts caused by Karposi's sarcoma
covering his face and neck, and many hand-lettered sign citing the name, the
date of birth and the date of death of an AIDS victim.
The large crowd was described as orderly by Capt. William White III, a
District of Columbia police spokesman who compared it in size to the national
demonstrations against the Vietnam War years ago.
Perhaps the most moving part of the 6 day gathering took place on the Mall
yesterday morning when thousands gathered around a giant patch work quilt to
honor those who have died of AIDS. Each of the 3-by-6-foot panels in the
quilt, made by a relative, lover or friend, bore the name of a victim of the
disease. Volunteers read alound the names as more that 2000 panels were
unfolded and tied to the canvas framework.
Many spectators blinked back tears or wept openly as they surrounded
the multicolored memorial, which was the length of two football fields.
"It hurts all over again" said Mary Jane Edwards, whose son, Greg, died
of AIDS in 1984. During the sunrise ceremony, she said, "I read 32 names
[of AIDS victims]. I felt like the mother of every one of them."
The march, the assembling of the quilt, and a ceremony to wed hundreds
of gay couples were the weekends bigger events. But simultaneously, the
gathering offered all sorts of smaller celebrations and commemorations,
including impromptu reunions, dances, concerts, and political organizing
sessions. To walk around parts of Washington Saturday and yesterday was
to see a demonstration of the popular gay slogan, "We Are Everywhere."
"This weekend, Washington, D.C., is ours," proclaimed the Reverend
Troy Perry of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.
"This is the gay capital of the world."
Mr. Perry was a speaker at "The Wedding," an event that invited gay
couples "out of the closets and into the wedding chapels," in Mr. Perry's
words.
Although speakers talked about discrimination, many of the estimated
1,500 couples had more personal, romantic reasons for their presence.
Some came dressed in formal wear, equipped with confetti, rice, balloons,
or bouquets.
The ceremony drew detractors. On the steps of the Internal Revenue
Service building on Constitution Ave., a half block from the make shift
altar four men carried religous signs calling for gays to repent or perish.
"Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," yelled one of them, urging the
booing the crowd to engage in sex only as "one man, one woman, married."
|
| Good article. Thank you for sharing that with us.
I was one of the people at the march. I had a wonderful time.
My spouse and I flew into Washington from Colorado Friday evening,
had some frozen yogurt (*slurp) and went to bed a little early to prepare
for the weekend. Saturday we reaffirmed our vows - the vows we
had taken in our Holy Union ceremony last October 25. Although
the wedding in DC was not the Christian ceremony we had here,
nevertheless it was a love-filled one, and we were very grateful
to be there. We hung around the streets for a while after that,
just enjoying being a majority for a change. It was wonderful.
We laughed with our gay and straight brothers and sisters, we watched
a group of women dancing to the "drum" sounds of a group of eight
year old boys, we hugged, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
On Sunday we got up early and drove into DC (we were staying with
a friend in Virginia - where gay lovemaking is illegal) and
participated in Christian worship with the Universal Fellowship
of Metropolitan Community Churches. The service was held in front
of the Lincoln Memorial ( appropriate ). When the service was over
we went toward the Ellipse, the beginning of the March, and we stopped
at the Veterans' Memorial on the way. One of the moving sights
there was the array of medals with a lambda button - a gay symbol.
It reminded us of the many gays who lost their lives in Vietnam,
fighting with a military which would have thrown them out if it was
known that they were gay.
The police had said in the Washington paper that they would close
the streets for the March from noon to 1:00. As we left to catch
our plane back Sunday at 4:45, we saw them finally open the streets
to traffic as the last marchers came in. It was wonderful.
Carol
|