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October’s march on Washington leaves some activists perplexedby Yusef NajafiMetro WeeklyTuesday Aug 4, 2009
There’s a ticking time bomb on the Equality Across America Web site. At least, that’s how some Washington DC activists, like Michael Crawford, might view the live countdown to the National LGBT Equality March, slated for Sunday, Oct. 11, in Washington.
Cleve Jones, gay pioneer Harvey Milk’s protégé, called for the 2009 march while speaking at a Utah Pride event June 7. It was then that Jones, also the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, kicked off a four-and-a-half month countdown to an event aiming to bring GLBT activists and allies from across to country to the nation’s capital.
Equality Across America (EAA) is the umbrella organization that is currently being built by the event’s steering committee to manage the march.
The effort, to include a high-profile demand to Congress for equality for GLBT people, has, however, left some local activists, such as Crawford, perplexed.
More time needed
"I think you need much more time than a few months to plan a national march on Washington," says Crawford, co-chair of DC for Marriage, a program of The DC Center advocating for marriage equality, who moved to Washington in 1999 as an organizer of 2000’s GLBT Millennium March on Washington.
"And if the goal, as they say, is to put pressure on Congress, it’s best to do that when Congress is in session," Crawford quips, noting that Congress will be in recess during the weekend in question.
Organizers say Columbus Day weekend was chosen as the date of the event to commemorate the National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11; to memorialize the 11-year anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death, Oct. 12; and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Oct. 14, 1979.
Supporters of the event, such as former Clinton White House Advisor, Democratic activist and author David Mixner, say the timing of the event is appropriate.
"Because we have a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, and we may never have a better one, maybe in our lifetime, it makes sense to put pressure on them and to march," says Mixner. "Whereas if it was George Bush, it wouldn’t make much sense.
"We’ve got to get this repeal of [the Defense of Marriage Act] and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and an [Employment Non-Discrimination Act] and the other issues through Congress before we lose the opportunity. What we’re learning is that unless we push and shove and make things happen, they don’t happen."
It’s also an important event to have, he adds, for GLBT people who do not live in a major city, and who do not have "huge gay prides" annually.
"It’s very important that we show solidarity as a nation and as a community, especially for our young."
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