Whether you support it or not, October’s March on Washington is here. Sorry, not “march”; it’s now called “Meet On The Mall.” Despite all the allegations of poor planning, Cleve Jones & Co. have secured a permit for the National Mall for Columbus Day Weekend. Err, sorry, not the National Mall (as folks like activist Corey Johnson originally claimed would happen), but the West Lawn, where Obama’s inauguration took place, says Jones, who pushes aside criticism that the march lacks funds or organization and declares: “We should be saying, ‘Enough of this, we demand full equality under civil law.’ We should be marching, engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience every day. We have a window, but it’s already starting to close. If you think you’re going to get anything out of Obama in the second half of his term, you don’t know anything about political history. In a year, he’ll be in full re-election mode.”
The event has also been rebranded: The two-hour march and two-hour rally is heretofore known as “Meet On The Mall.” There’s a logo and everything! Which, quite frankly, is hugely important: No matter how grassroots this thing will be, a successful branding campaign is a requirement. (Michael Petrelis notes the not-so-subtle imagery of fisting.)
BrianZ
2 hour march and a 2 hour rally? Wooo a girl is gonna need some new heels! But what the hell, I’ll be there.
I’ll pass on the fisting though, all things considered.
timncguy
since congress will not be insession that day, wouldn’t it be cheaper and just as effective to “meet” by live stream over the internet?
SFNative
@timncguy:
I think Congress IS actually in session for the whole month… either so many people are badly misinformed, or I’m not interpreting this Congress schedule correctly:
http://www.thecapitol.net/FAQ/cong_schedule.html
At any rate, I would say those that can’t make it out to Washington should organize something locally that day in conjunction with the national equality march.
Bitch Republic
Why is Queerty so determined to crush this?
SFNative
@Bitch Republic:
I don’t know why, Bitch Republic… you would think that all leading LGBT organizations and media would come together and support it, or at least respect it. When I see the headline “Picnics 4 Equality”, I wonder what the intentions are. I would find it sad that a leading organization/media group would want to hurt our LGBT cause.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, we must not drink from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We *are* better than the religious zealots, rights?
ThirdGen
I don’t understand the angst over this, its national in scope, not taking away from California, it actually might be as simple as several thousand people just buying a ticket and showing up to make a statement, go back and organize in their districts.
But I do know there is a lot of anxiety in our community right now, not without reason, we’ve had a leadership meltdown in California that hasn’t sorted out yet, and just woke up to realize state budget cuts to AIDS programs could be serious, and Obama at best seems unconcerned about our plight and waiting until a 2nd term seems we can’t assume things will work out. History hasn’t been on our side that way.
I think in the end he will help us, but I think its not going to handed to us soon. I think like the rest of America, we’re going to have to experience some restructuring to be able to not only achieve our rights but to demonstrate we’ll use them well for a broader more inclusive social justice. Sandip Roy’s recent article in Salon “Gay Mecca no more” referred to the gay rights struggle in Nepal whose leader said:
“We needed to show how our movement would benefit overall democracy”
I think that is the where we are now, can we put aside our divisions and rise to that? I hope so.
Alex
Um, the upraised fist is a longstanding sign of dissent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_gesture#Clenched_fist).
dgz
i am a fierce advocate uhhh for uhhh equality for uhhh gay and lesbian americans uhhh…
——————————
crap, queerty. now i can’t look at that poster without thinking of fisting. brrr.
InExile
@ThirdGen: How can you excuse President Obama on his promises until his second term??? His promises were for THIS TERM not the next. If he does not keep his promises this term, I for one will work day and night to help WHOEVER is running against him and I probably will not be alone.
What this video of Obama’s promises:
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001841/
SM
If the gay community put as much effort and volunteering into Prop 8 as they do into Pride…it would have been defeated.
You all constantly BLAME everyone else.
Dabq
@Bitch Republic: That’s a fantastic question! This site and whoever owns it hates Obama with fiber of their being, and, yet, they mock a march for equality? Kind of like how they clamor for gay marriage in Calif and yet mock and put down the people who are fighting for it and trying to get it back on the ballot next year. Go figure, I guess it keeps folks coming back and those hits gets advertisers and that’s the only thing that matters.
And, if Congress is in session, every marcher needs his or her rep’s name on a sign to demand that they get involved in this fight, since its obvious, Obama isn’t going to, no matter how loud the sceeching or the use of racial slurs that some seem to think are helping.
ThirdGen
@InExile: @InExile: I’m not excusing him, he wasn’t my first choice for democratic candidate because i thought he was too cautious. Because of that i’m not surprised, and focusing on what I think is the reality that is going to be a longer process, and that we’ll need to bring in more allies and be an ally to other groups as well to achieve what we’re entitled to. I think the march is a good place to take the anger, and maybe bring along a straight friend.
InExile
@ThirdGen: He was actually my third choice because of his religious entanglements. You cannot be all things to all people and still stand for anything. This is the reason his promises are going out the window. The march is a good place to start and the more straight people that participate the better! Our community really needs a leader or at least to get more organized.
Dabq
@InExile: You make a very valid point, straight people need to be open the frontline’s as well, but, with the over the top antics of posters here, I doubt if they would as even i as a gay man would not stand with most of the posters here on anything, and, this fight needs a LEADER, one who can articulate why there is a need for equality, other than comparing it to all these side bar issues.
Fitz
@Dabq: I actually agree with you here. Most of the posters here, including me, are too angry and inarticulate to do any kind of reaching out. I am still in the angry petulant phase, to be fully honest. I don’t know how to look at Obama supporters and not become dismissive and scornful. (and I wish I could).
ThirdGen
@InExile: We do need a national level articulate charsmatic leader, who hasn’t emerged yet. In the meantime we do have leaders. We owe the bloggers a lot for insisting on transparency post prop 8, wouldn’t have happened without them. Lately its felt like they’re hypervigilant, and in some cases overreactive.
At this stage I think we all need to pick the leader we think is doing best right now, support them and if we think they go astray let them know. Step back from the emtionality of the blogs a bit. Some of the people behind the march have substantive achievements, David Mixner, Sean Strub. I didn’t know who they were until I googled them, but reading about their substantive accomplishments it seemed like they wouldn’t have done it on a whim. Our leaders aren’t perfect, but we do have some that have done and are doing good work. At this point I read the bloggers, and then go research the names that come up. Its a frustrating pain that we’re have can’t count on a quick fix from Obama and its ok if we vent between family, if we stop short of pounding on each other. Re: straight people and allies in other minority groups not wanting to be around all that, its probably good if we do develop a sense of how other people see us, in their eyes we’re not the only ones with problems. And like with any kind of grief, no need to try to get beyond it before you are.
SFNative
@ThirdGen:
I think that person could be Lt. Daniel Choi or Cleve Jones if you ask me.
Konrad
Congress is not in session on October 10 or 11 (its the weekend, stupid). They are also not in session Monday, October 12 (Columbus Day). And given the holiday, they are likely to leave DC on Thursday afternoon to go home and court the Italian-American vote, coming back on Tuesday afternoon.
Bill Perdue
@SFNative: @SFNative: The last thing we need is some self appointed leader speaking in our name, making decisions for us and getting intived to the White House for tea and treason.
We need a democratically run national grass roots movement based on a no-nonsense, won’t take no for an answer program like
1) Passage of an omnibus anti-discrimination bill that would make it easy to win awards from bigots who discriminate in housing, education, employment and access to social services and medical care.
2) Passage of a law mandating harsh prison terms for bigots who discriminate or who call for or endorse violence.
3) Demanding that the White House order the dismissal and courts marshal of any military officers guilty of bigotry.
4) Demanding that the White House and State Department open US Embassies and Consulates to GLBT folks fleeing death, torture or imprisonment at the hands of homobigoted governments like the US puppet governments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Central America.
5) A Manhattan Project to fund research, treatment and social services for those affected by HIV/AIDS and other killer diseases.
6) An end to bailouts and welfare for the looter rich until every American has a good job, good housing, good nutrition, good medical care and good education.
Enku
I think this march could be good for our movement, if we work to make it serious enough and radical enough to make it worth it.
We could try organizing, not necissarily under Mr. Jone’s leadership, while still thanking him and other organizers for their dedication to help start this.
Enku
I personally think SFNative is definately going in the right direction.