Given my “relationship with Blake Wilkinson and Queer Liberaction,” I figured I better go ahead and play this one up HUGE!!! Queer Liberaction will host a community educational forum led by local gay historian Phil Johnson at 7 p.m. today at Resource Center Dallas, 2701 Reagan St. The 84-year-old Johnson, who founded Dallas’ first gay organization in 1965, was one of THOUSANDS (there I go, lying again) who attended the Million Gay March yesterday, and he in fact spoke during the rally at Lee Park (shown above). From the QL press release:
Whether speaking on the Dallas Gay and Lesbian bar scene in the 1940s or talking about the all male boarding houses that existed in Oak Cliff during WWII, Phil Johnson is sure to captivate and inspire us all through is stories and decades of experience in the Dallas GLBT movement. This event is free and open to the public, so please bring a friend!
chuckles @ John’s comments.
Wish I could make it tonight :o( Would love to hear his inspiration. Maybe someone could tape it????? Even if audio only….
Since it was the Million Gay March, you should have said you saw hundreds of thousands, possibly a million marchers go down Cedar Springs Road. If you’re gonna tell a lie, you might as well do it up real good.
I am taping it
That’s fine John, integrity is a laughing matter.
Those of us who attended the March yesterday and HONESTLY counted less than 300 people know the March was not a success. The fact that you continue to claim to have seen “thousands” of people is simply your effort to make the event and yourself important. Neither are. Neither were successful yesterday. Dallas didn’t show up for the much-promoted March and you lied by suggesting you saw 2,700 more people than the rest of us.
It isn’t upsetting or I guess unusual that you would lie – what would be unusual is if the Dallas Voice permits this behavior. I can see from today’s exchange that you do not have any integrity and accuracy is less important than your “cause.”
I hope the Dallas Voice chooses to clear up this matter by demanding honesty and accuracy from their reporters. If not it will further damage their credibility.
Go ahead, make some cute remarks about that, too.
Awesome Laura. Definitely capturing history.
Andrew:
“Thousands” means MORE THAN 1,000, not 3,000. Can you try to pay attention to the language we’ve all agreed upon? Thanks.
Unfair Park – Dallas Observer Reporter says the Dallas Police do not have any estimate from yesterday’s March.
Patrick Michel says:
Andrew,
I’ve been trying to track down an official count today, but DPD’s spokesman has told me that’s not a number they’ve got.
Instead, I included the count from the event’s organizers who said they’d heard directly from police who were there, and made it clear where that number was coming from.
Posted On: Monday, Jun. 29 2009 @ 6:08PM Unfair Park
Let’s STOP lying and just admit that a only few hundred people showed up. It doesn’t help us to inflate the attendance. If people didn’t want to participate in this protest we should be asking why? not how many?
Maybe Andrew has a grudge with QueerLiberaction, but we need to tell the TRUTH about the attendance.
I was there – where was everyone else?
Why keep lying John Wright? I think Andrew made a valid point. Several sources are now confirming about 300 people. I was there, too. It seemed like 300 people, certainly not “thousands.” Now, you want to say you used “thousands” simply meaning more than 1,000. Huh? Thousands sounds like two or three or four thousand . . . not 300.
You are supposed to report. We expect accuracy. You are now sounding like a trapped weasel. Admit the mis-information and let’s move on. There are more important things to discuss.
This has gotten really crazy — even by nutty Dallas queen standards. John Wright said that thousands of people braved the heat to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. He didn’t say that thousands marched. When you report on attendance at an event, it includes people who are standing on the sidewalk, people who go to the rally who may not have attended the march itself and just about everyone in sight of the event, including those who watched from the bars. Everyone participates in their own way. Surely, as a community, we have more pressing concerns than to waste our time bitching about stuff that is open to so many different interpretations. No one is lying to anyone. As a former longtime member of the Dallas Voice staff, I can tell you there isn’t time to be making up stuff. Everyone is too busy just trying to keep up with what actually happens on a day in and day out basis. Sometimes, mistakes are made, but no one fabricates information. That is just a totally crazy idea, and if that’s what you think you likely have some pretty serious problems that need attention of the psychiatric sort.
You’re right, David, I really shouldn’t be wasting my time with this. But for the record, I did a quick Web search which turned up this result from Dictionary.com. Pay particular attention to No. 3. For Andrew and Mark, that’s the one right after 2 and right before 4.
https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thousands
thouâ‹…sand
  /ˈθaʊzənd/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [thou-zuhnd] Show IPA noun, plural -sands, (as after a numeral) -sand, adjective
Use thousands in a Sentence
–noun
1. a cardinal number, 10 times 100.
2. a symbol for this number, as 1000 or M.
3. thousands. the numbers between 1000 and 999,999, as in referring to an amount of money: Property damage was in the thousands.
4. a great number or amount.
5. Also, thousand’s place.
a. (in a mixed number) the position of the fourth digit to the left of the decimal point.
b. (in a whole number) the position of the fourth digit from the right.
–adjective
6. amounting to 1000 in number.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE thūsend; c. D duizend, OHG dūsunt, ON thūsund, Goth thūsindi
After the Day of Decision March down Cedar Springs John Wright reported “hundreds” of people marching. At that event I counted 71 people and took pictures.
This isn’t about some non-issue David. This is gross exaggeration to mislead the public about these two events.
Ask anyone what they think “thousands” means. It was an obvious lie and everyone knows it. Good, honest reporting has been replaced by “wishful thinking.”
Andrew,
Anyone who thinks there were only 71 people at the Day of Decision rally is obviously delusional. The patio of TMC was packed and overflowing onto the streets and sidewalks. Seventy-one people would fill less than half of that patio. If there was any doubt whatsoever that your claims have no basis in reality, you just erased it.
I have video of the day of decision rally and I counted 297 people…would you like to review the tapes! 🙂
yes, laura, i think he should review the tapes. he and blake and john can all sit down and count. and i expect that andrew is such a good counter!
John Wright & Laura:
Look, you can keep lying all you want – at both events the people were COUNTED. This past Sunday the Dallas Morning News decided to count the people, too – they got “about 300.” You can call me and others, including the DMN, liars, but it is clear you are inflating numbers.
During the last hour in my office I had one of the pictures from the first March “Day of Decision” blown up. It was the small crowd coming down Cedar Springs. Each person was numbered – all 74 of them. So, when I counted with a friend on that day I apparently missed 3 people NOT 200. We have also enlarged a picture from Sunday While there is a chance a few people are obscured, we have stopped at 264 people, not “thousands.”
I am finished talking about how many people were at these two events – I know, I counted them and I suspect other people are now fully aware.
As you plan additional events please be cautious of the fact that people ACTUALLY COUNT. We do this, not because we disagree with the effort or the event, but because we want to know. Attendance at this type of event is VERY important. A March by the gay community is intended to be a show of strength or solidarity – these two events showed neither. That should be the focus of this conversation.
Apathy is the enemy. Why some people chose to NOT support these events is an important discussion. If people believe this type of effort is wrong or counterproductive it would be nice to hear from them. Maybe the whole idea of “marching” is no longer considered effective.