Although this will have my name (Tammye Nash) at the end of it, it was written by Dallas Voice columnist Hardy Haberman, who is in Washington, D.C. for the National Equality March:
I arrived at the starting point of the Equality March with my partner Patrick about 10 a.m. There were already several thousand people milling around. Lots of vendors hawking gay Pride flags and stickers, and the ubiquitous Socialist Workers Party folks who tag along to every rally they can.
While milling about I heard a British accent and turned to come face to face with John Oliver from the Daily Show. He was taping an interview for Monday’s show, so look for me in the background, I’ll be wearing a leather NLA-Dallas vest.
Aside from my brush with fame it shows that the media is taking us seriously. The Daily Show is trusted by more Americans for news more than Fox or CNN.
There were lots of hard core activist organizations present including Faith in America, a group of religious leaders who believe that it’s time for religion to stop harming LGBT people. Now that I can get behind!
After an hour or so, the leather folk began to appear. Carrying leather Pride flags and some in full dress leather, they looked great. I am always proud to see how leatherfolk show up for activist causes. It was also nice eye candy!
The march finally started around 1 p.m. for our group, however it stepped off on time at noon, it’s just there were so many people it too that long for us to move. We marched chanting a variety of slogans including a special one as we passed the White House. “Obama, Obama let mommas marry mommas!”
I also saw a variety of really great signs including my favorite, “Jesus had two daddies.” Another on a less serious note read, “Single and Bitter, but I Still Want Marriage Equality.”
Damn we are a clever people!
We continued around the White House and onto Pennsylvania Ave towards the Capitol. That is when the magnitude of the crowd hit me. All the way to the Capitol building, the street was filled. I looked back and the crowd seemed endless in the other direction.
When we finally reached the Capitol Lawn after marching for over an hour, Pennsylvania Avenue was still filled with LGBT marchers as far as the eye could see. The turnout was spectacular!
The lawn of the Capitol never looked as colorful as it did today. Rainbow flags, T-shirts and other colorful clothing gave the area a festive feel, but the speakers made sure the true intent of the march was known.
As they have often said, this was not “organizing to march, but marching to organize.”
Texas was well represented. A large contingent from Austin and Dallas were present, as well as other parts of the Lone Star State. My suggestion for the organizers would be to muster the groups by state to give a full impact to the nationwide effort the event was. Finding local folks was impossible in the crush of people.
After the rally and speakers, we dispersed into the city for well-needed rest and food. Patrick and I ate at a great little Salvadorian café with several dozen marchers. The food was wonderful and liquid refreshment was even better. I never knew a Diet Coke could be so refreshing.
It will take a while to process the events of the day and I am sure I will write more soon, but for now, getting my feet elevated seems like a liberating act!
The media is reporting “thousands” marched. ABC News said “about 20,000.” NBC Nightly News called marchers “Leftist-Internet-Fringe” which sounds like something HRC would have told them.
The march took over 2 hours and filled the street for 2.5 hours. 20,000? Not unless we marched single file.
Hey Mark C. Official police report was 150,000 and off the record count was 250,000. You can can watch the full rally here. It was unbelievable!
https://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/10/11/HP/A/24091/National+Equality+March+in+Washington.aspx
And you can see the interview and initial address from Lady GaGa here: https://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/interview-lady-gaga-at-the-national-equality-march.html
There was no “official police report.” Lying doesn’t help your cause.
The consensus around the Web today is about 20,000 people. Most media reports said “thousands,” unless they quoted an estimate from “organizers,” which was wildly inflated.
But, we’re used to that in Dallas – remember back in June when “about 400” people Marched on Cedar Springs? Organizers said 10,000, then 2,000. It was about 400 people.
Maybe this is part of the reason many in the community laugh at these marches. Not just that they are not well supported – but, the amusement of the wild “crowd estimates.”
Dallas was a disappointment within the Texas delegation, we were greatly outnumbered by Houston, San Antonio and Austin. For whatever reasons, Dallas gays didn’t gel with the Texas delegation, they were off on their own or with other groups. I saw more of our community on my flight home than with the Texas delegation in the march. Like I said, Dallas was a disappointment…….