Oct. 11: On this date in 1987...

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:31am

... approximately 650 thousand queer people and their supporters descended on Washington, DC, for the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It was a scary, wonderful, fabulous, empowering day. During a time in which it was very rare for celebrities to align themselves with the homos, a community under attack, I will never ever forget Whoopi Goldberg pushing the wheelchair of a friend of hers with AIDS at the head of the march. Or her powerful speech she gave later on the mall.

It was also the day that the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled for the first time. Joseph Papp arrived with Michael Bennett's quilt panel... he was dead just over three months at that point. The whole thing was an unbelievably powerful and eloquent embodiment of a community's collective grief. It was shocking to see in front of you so many quilt panels and to know that each represented a life no longer there to stand among us.

There was also political action. The next day was a large scale act of civil disobedience on the steps of the Supreme Court. I worked on the support team for the very first group to be arrested! Meetings and gatherings continued throughout the week and the AIDS treatment advocacy group Act Now was born.

On this date in 1988, in celebration of the memory of that day, National Coming Out Day was instituted to encourage people to continue the actions from that glorious march back in their own cities and towns, by coming out to those around them, to let people know that gay people were everywhere.

Updated On: 10/11/06 at 09:31 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:34am

There was representation at the march from an astoundingly diverse number of groups!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:36am

Look who was on the steps of the Supreme Court the next morning!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:37am

Thank you for sharing this important historical event, Namo.

Sending support and love to all who have recently Come Out, and to those who are still finding their way along this path.

[DG]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:39am

I still think this should be the most important day and/or movement in our community. Pride is nice, but that's something everybody has to deal with in their own lives - no matter their sexuality. Visibility is the key to the cementing of our civil rights - and goes a long way toward the development of that aforementioned pride.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:40am

Today I'm wearing my "Tough Guys Wear Pink" t-shirt in honor of BOTH causes!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:41am

I think that sounds perfect!

DG, I agree with you.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:42am

just a bump in solidarity and to keep this above my war threads.

[DracoMalfoy]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:46am

Addy! How are you?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:14am

Was anybody else there at the '87 March? I would love to hear some memories from other folks... DG, the thing you're saying about the importance of coming out can not be underestimated. Everything about the events leading up to the 1987 March revealed more and more numbers of us and it was thrilling. The organizing that happened around the country to get people there, and housed. I remember a HUGE Amtrak train filled to overflowing with all of us on the way to DC. We actually got a visual for the old slogan "We are everywhere!" and it was breathtaking.

Updated On: 10/11/06 at 10:14 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:38am

Of course, what would gay life in the '80s have been without the graphical participation of Keith Haring?!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:38am

Yes, please!

I'd love to hear memories of that March in '87, AND, I'd love to hear more stories of support and acceptance.

Words which might make a difference to someone.

[DG]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:43am

"Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying." - Ian Mckellen


"If I was on a march at the moment I would be saying to everyone: 'Be honest with each other. Admit there are limitless possibilities in relationships, and love as many people as you can in whatever way you want, and get rid of your inhibitions, and we'll all be happy." - Ian Mckellen

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 11:56am

Excellent thread, namo. Unfortunately, I arrived in the U.S. 3 months later (almost to the day.) That was truly a time when the our community had come together to fight for equality. It's too bad that it took a terrible disease to bring us together, and now that it's considered manageable - yet still deadly - the community is not nearly as united as it once was.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:09pm

I wasn't at the the '87 march but I was at the '93 one.

Friends who were at the '87 march talked for years (or until they died) about how radical an act it was for half a million gay men and lesbians to be there. The '93 march had a different feel: more people by then were out to their families, friends and co-workers, so it was a celebration--but it was a celebration tempered by the fact that so many friends had died from AIDS-related causes.

I traveled down to that one on an Amtrak car loaded with queers. It was one of the most amazing days of my life.

I WISH I had been at the '87 march.

[DG]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:32pm

I was performing in Colorado, so I couldn't be there. But my mother and 11 other people staged a little rally in the small mountain town they were in to show support. They stood at the town park along the main drive through town with signs and balloons. There weren't many of them, but they got lots of honks in support (as well as a picture on the front page of the paper.)

I remember thinking that, even if the main attraction was in DC, if other scenes like that were playing out across the country, then something in the wind had shifted. It seems as if it might have, but just not as much as I had hoped.

Perhaps it's time for a 20th anniversary gathering. The atmosphere could certainly use a jolt of progressive energy.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:39pm

I was there in '87, and actually have that poster framed and hanging in my entry hall. I was very involved in MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) at the time, and marched with a contingent that included Reverend Freda Smith and Reverend Troy Perry. I got to sing "Go Tell it On The Mountain" that evening at a dinner in front of Reverend Perry who exclaimed afterward "Brother can tear down walls with that voice!". It was one of the most meaningful moments of my life.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:51pm

Beautiful memories, cd. I vividly remember the MCC contingent, I remember trying to "take in" as many of the contingents as I could, so I would never forget them.

I remember seeing Sgt. Leonard Matlovich in the parade... he was a Viet Nam vet who came out in 1975 on the cover of Time magazine (talk about radical acts!). Oh, how I stared at that cover when I was 14... he didn't look like anything I had been taught to fear in myself.

He too would be dead from AIDS within a year of the March in '87.

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:51pm

Here's a good read for those who don't know how to deal with a friend or family member who comes out. I hope it helps give them an understanding.

http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Get_Informed4&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=34212

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:03pm

What a contrast: The bravery of Sergeant Leonard Matlovich coming out and saying "I am a homosexual" versus the spin of James McGreevey saying "I am a gay American" or pathetic Mark Foley saying "I am an alcholic."

[luvliza89]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:15pm

How fitting that Oct.11 is my birthday :)

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:33pm

"I bless you and I baptize you and I recognize your divinity as a human being."

-John the Baptist to Joshua and the Disciples (Terrence McNally, "Corpus Christi) as performed by robbiej

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:34pm

Great quote, cookie! And luvliza, you're saying it was literally your coming out day! Happy b-day!

Updated On: 10/11/06 at 01:34 PM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:36pm

This makes me a little sad.
How far have we actually come in the last 19 years? We had Will and Grace which, I believe, us complacent and gave us a false sense of National acceptance. We have the Gay marriage issue. Yes, we stood on the steps of San Francisco City Hall and held up the marriage certificates that we all knew were invalid, but we had the photo op, didn't we? Rosie came out, Ellen came out and who really was surprised?
We are struggling even harder today to be accepted in all areas of life than we were in 1987. Why? Because people think that because of the above examples that we are already accepted. We can be on a sit-com or have a talk show, but we can't marry the person we love or tell our commanding officer how hot your bunk mate is...

The Foley and McGreevy issues have made it clear that we still use being gay as an excuse for bad behavior, at least in the eyes of the general populace. The fact that McGreevy was a crappy Governor was overshadowed by the fact that he had a gay affair and got caught. The same with Foley...as some one pointed out, "those GAYS" are the cause of all the trouble in Washington right now. Not the pedophiles. Not the lying politicians who bury their head in the sand hoping no one will notice the real issues...Blame it on the Homos.

Yea, I am sad that I was not able to attend the march on Washington. I watched with pride and hope from my little apartment...it's a pity we have to think of those days as the good old days.

Anyone want to get another march together for next year's anniversary? I won't miss this one.

[DG]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 1:39pm

Sueleen - while I can't really argue with the specific issues you point out, I do have to add that in SOME states, things are definitely better. Here in California, we enjoy pretty much across the board equality - with state support (at least in the areas that they can control at the state level.)