So just how many people did attend the National Equality March? It depends on which news outlet, and whether that news outlet is part of Big Gay Media, you ask.
The Washington Post says “tens of thousands of gay rights supporters marched from the White House to the Capitol.” The New York Times echoes that vague figure, saying, “an eager crowd of tens of thousands on the west lawn of the Capitol.” But if you check with The Advocate, that number explodes to something more definite: “some 200,000 people gathered.” That figure comes from local authorities, but as Time‘s John Cloud notes, “estimates of Mall crowds are notoriously unreliable.” And it puts the “budget per person” ratio at $1 per attendee; NEM spent about $200,000 to make everything happen.
And then there’s this argument: Everybody is lying, and the crowd was no bigger than 20,000.
For what it’s worth, Cleve Jones never doubted you would all show up. All “tens of thousands,” or “200,000” of you.
How about we take this to the next level?
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(Photo: Mike Cho for Queerty)
Puck
I saw lots of men, didn’t see to many women. Why didn’t we bring the women with us. We talk about divisions in the community, coming together for the cause. Yet women weren’t there, I heard no outspoken lesbians say go to washington. Was it because they were shut out of the planning, did they feel unwelcome. Call your lesbian friends and ask not why didn’t they go, ask how we could have made them feel more welcome
Swimmer - Chicago
The women like to stay home and bake cookies or watch football on a Sunday afternoon – that’s why they didn’t show up.
mdthom
Excuse me, but the march I went to yesterday had just as many women than men.
alan brickman
very few minorities there….
jj
I would say everyone there was a “minority.”
terrwill
According to Faux News there were 47 people there ;-P
ajax
I walked with seven friends: Two of us are women, one of us is African American, one of us is Latino, one of us is straight.
So here’s how it works. YOU expand YOUR horizons and YOU make FRIENDS with people of different races, genders and sexualities. Then YOU will walk with a diverse group of friends. If we all bring our diverse group of friends, then the entire group will be diverse.
Oh, and the last time I checked, GAY MEN ARE A MINORITY, LESBIAN WOMEN ARE A MINORITY, TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE A MINORITY, AND OUR STRAIGHT ALLIES WHO TOOK THE TIME TO WALK ARE A MINORITY. AND, everyone there was a part of a very particular minority – the vocal minority.
I rode on the bus with Chris Quinn. I would estimate that at least 40% of the occupants on the bus were women. The most common demographic I noticed was youth. (I was not part of that demographic.)
Shruti
I saw a lot of women, at least. And families. And mix of straight allies and LGB folk.
What I perhaps didn’t see as much of were trans folk (maybe) and racial/ethnic minorities (except lots of Asians).
Drew
I saw lots of women and minorities… and would say the number was closer to 200,000. Queerty, can you stop bashing the march now? You’ve bitched about it from the start, claimed it wouldn’t go ahead, said the gay groups wouldn’t support it and now you are questioning numbers? how about some positive coverage for once instead of just tearing everything down? Seriously, this site is so bitter and jaded.
Cam
Um, the first poster….which March did you attend??? No women? Are you crazy?
As for the numbers, I live in DC and I saw the Teabag protest, walked right by it in fact as I was walking the dog. This march was many times larger, if the Teabaggers got 70,000 then 200,000 for the gay march is completely reasonable. The thing I love is that the teabaggers get 70,000 and they are labeled a new national movement, we get many times more than that and get a few seconds on the news saying “Gays MArched”. Irritating.
David
20,000 – For those that attended the March and understand that being honest is in our best interests. Even “tens of thousands” is being generous.
Cam
No. 11 · David said
20,000 – For those that attended the March and understand that being honest is in our best interests. Even “tens of thousands” is being generous.
________________________________
David, I live in DC, I saw the teabagger gathering, If they got 70,000 then this march had to be over 100,000 the teabaggers were grouped on the lawns of the Capital, packed on those areas of the Lawn that are uo next to the building, the Gay March went past the lawn and fulled the area behind that. My guess is, you are most likely an anti gay person coming on here trying to spread False info because there is no way ANYBODY living in DC who has seen the many Marches, Protests, Etc.. that come through here would call Sunday’s March only 20,000.
leanleft
As someone who lives in DC, there was no where near 200,000 marchers. Usually with marches like this, friends all want to bum a place to sleep on a DCians floor- none of that this time, with me or my friends.
I went down to check out the march- and have to agree with the others— this was a gay boy’s party… women here and there, but I would say mostly men, some diversity in the student crowd.
Maybe there was 30,000 there? In the end, the number is irrelevant… hopefully the people who attended are charged up and ready to fight for change in their communities and nationally… that really is all that matters…
Cam
No. 13 · leanleft said
As someone who lives in DC, there was no where near 200,000 marchers. Usually with marches like this, friends all want to bum a place to sleep on a DCians floor- none of that this time, with me or my friends.
I went down to check out the march- and have to agree with the others— this was a gay boy’s party… women here and there, but I would say mostly men, some diversity in the student crowd.
_______________________
Ok, I get it, here come the anti-gay folks. give it a rest, the speakers were majority Women, the crowed was around 50/50 with a large Transexual contingent. When the front lawns were packed we could still see the parade stretching out many blocks down PA avenue continuing to move in and pack the area. I’ve lived in DC ages, I’ve seen Marches and protests like the Million Man March, the Promise Keepers, the Teabaggers, Bush’s and Obama’s inauguration, etc… Anybody who says that this was under 100,000 is kidding themselves. And your claim that “With marches like this friends all want to bum a place to sleep on a DC’ers floor” Which “Marches like this” are you talking about? The last march there of any size was the teabaggers, before that it was the Innauguration. Nice try.
Carl Sagan
Billions and billions!
leanleft
Hi Cam:
Sorry to burst your bubble, but what marches do I mean- I mean the previous marches for LGBT equality… 93′, 2000′, etc.
For each, people were always crashing on floors of DCers homes- not so much this time. Hell, you could still find hotel rooms in DC on Thursday night for the weekend – if there were 200,000 people there, with the add-on of the race for the cure folks in town- that would not be happening.
And some of us have lived in DC more than 1 year, and have a longer history to go on.
So please don’t patronize me.
But like I said, for the people that came, if they got something out of it- great good for them- hopefully they will get involved.
Its just too bad the organizers decided to put together a march in such a short time frame that they did not give themselves the time to really create an inclusive and massive event.
leanleft
@ Carl
I think that was 7.123768 billion to be exact!
ajax
Why is the attendance figure a defining issue for you people? The simple fact that you’re arguing over this completely irrelvant issue speaks to the simple power of this event.
Thirteen colonies beat the British Empire.
Forty queers sparked Stonewall.
Have you done anything valuable lately?
mark
No. 14 Cam said: “Anybody who says that this was under 100,000 is kidding themselves.”
I spoke with the D.C. Planning Department to confirm the size of the area the March was held: it is about 100,000 square feet. About 30% of the area was staging and a secure area, leaving 70,000 square feet. Reports from people there say “the area was never full or over-flowing” and the crowd was not “packed.” Each person requires about 3-4 square feet, depending on how packed the crowd is.
The above “facts” indicate that the crowd was about 20,000. This is a “real” estimate, based on real information and real math.
So, why don’t we just end this b.s. now. It doesn’t help to lie about the attendance. 20,000 people gave their time and energy to make their voices heard. They are appreciated.
The bigger question is what was everyone else doing Sunday afternoon? Why didn’t they want to participate?
One final note – a friend who attended said he felt “the HRC crowd from the night before (3,000 people) wasn’t at the March.” So, there are a few dramatic divides within our community. We can’t make progress unless we figure how to become unified for equality.
Carl Sagan
Anybody who says that this was under 100,000 is kidding themselves.
I’m afraid that it’s you who are doing the kidding. The last refuge of anyone who wants to fake a big crowd is the telephoto lens, which can make a group of 100 people look like the Chinese army if you take the shot from the right angle.
An honest and realistic depiction, which Queerty hilariously labeled “an argument,” tells the actual story. Your lawn party drew 10,000 or 20,000, tops. Barney Frank was right. It was a waste of time.
Carl Sagan
Why is the attendance figure a defining issue for you people? The simple fact that you’re arguing over this completely irrelvant issue speaks to the simple power of this event.
Fair enough. My question to you is: Why lie about the numbers? You got 10,000 or 20,000 for your lawn party. Tell the truth.
WhyArgueWithMath?
No 19. Mark: The above “facts” indicate that the crowd was about 20,000. This is a “real” estimate, based on real information and real math.
I concur. You simply can’t put “more” people in that limited area.
20,000 would be an accurate estimate. We look stupid (as a community) by making such obvious lies. This must be Cleve Jones work. Wake up Cleve – you attracted a “small crowd.”
Cam
No. 16 · leanleft said….
Hi Cam:
Sorry to burst your bubble, but what marches do I mean- I mean the previous marches for LGBT equality… 93′, 2000′, etc.
For each, people were always crashing on floors of DCers homes- not so much this time. Hell, you could still find hotel rooms in DC on Thursday night for the weekend – if there were 200,000 people there, with the add-on of the race for the cure folks in town- that would not be happening.
And some of us have lived in DC more than 1 year, and have a longer history to go on.
So please don’t patronize me.
_______________________________
Seetie, you left out the March in 87….as for how long I’ve lived here…my mother was born in this town……Been here long enough for you?
Cam
No. 20 · Carl Sagan said
Anybody who says that this was under 100,000 is kidding themselves.
I’m afraid that it’s you who are doing the kidding. The last refuge of anyone who wants to fake a big crowd is the telephoto lens, which can make a group of 100 people look like the Chinese army if you take the shot from the right angle.
An honest and realistic depiction, which Queerty hilariously labeled “an argument,” tells the actual story. Your lawn party drew 10,000 or 20,000, tops. Barney Frank was right. It was a waste of time.
___________________________-
Then if what you say is true the teabaggers only got about 5,000 for their march. I’m basing what I saw at there march and at this one with the estimate of their numbers being 70,000. That is what the news reported. This march filled out a significantly larger area. The Lawns were full, the area behind was crowded etc… the teabaggers never even hit that area and were estimated at 70,000.
Carl Sagan
Cam, it’s not a real good idea to say things like, “the lawns were full” when there are pictures showing that they weren’t. Look, just tell the truth about the numbers and we’ll all be friends. You’re looking sillier and sillier here.
Cam
No. 25 · Carl Sagan said…
Cam, it’s not a real good idea to say things like, “the lawns were full” when there are pictures showing that they weren’t. Look, just tell the truth about the numbers and we’ll all be friends. You’re looking sillier and sillier here.
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Carl, I was there, I was not hanging from a helocopter, but from our position, and from walking through the lawns were very crowded, the police blocked upward movement on the Stone Paths early on so they spilled over and then backed up down onto the paved area down to the pool. If you have an arial shot, find, then post it. But again, as somebody who saw the teabagger March, if they got 70,000 I can tell you that this crowd was bigger. If this crowd was, as people here are trying to say only 20,000, then the teabaggers had around 5000, and Obama’s innauguration wasn’t more than 400,000. The issue here is you sound so gleeful to attack the numbers, so which are you, an anti-gay zealot or an angry employee of HRC?
Josh
Enough already. Cam and the Organizers are either dishonest or delusional. 20,000 people. Get over it.
Jim B.
Cam’s manhunt profile must say “100 inches.” People do exaggerate.
Carl Sagan
Cam, I’m someone who thinks it’s better to tell the truth than to make up lies. The teabaggers are a case in point. If they’d just owned up to 60,000 or 70,000, they’d wouldn’t have been the laughingstock they turned out to be. Come on, Cam. You got 10,000 to 20,000 people for a Sunday afternoon lawn party with fierce speeches.
Better luck next time.
Gregoire
Why are all these people saying there was ‘20,000’ people? There was probably 20,000 on the lawn and surrounding area at around 3pm, but the MARCH had thousands and thousands more. Please stop with your lying.
I was there, I saw it with my own eyes and while I cannot for certain give an accurate number, I can comfortably say that 20,000 is WAY too low, and 200,000 is WAY to high. 75-80,000 is probably a fair number, although 100,000 wouldn’t be unreasonable.
Making it partially difficult is that fact that there was a breast cancer run near the same route, and some of those supporters went over to the march as supporters of that as well.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@ Carl Sagan
Why I you such an asshole?? Get a life.
Seriously though, we’ve enough HATE within the gay community, why does the Repub bother!
God, I actually cane believe their is a post about this but I actually can’t.
Carl, WAWM, leanleft etc etc
You’d know this, when their has been a march for black civil rights or even tyhe Teabaggers-were people arguing like this on the site?
For example, if someone cared to protest about something, were they attempted to be humiliated by people they felt looked like them?
Just asking, just asking.
I really don’t think the US lgbt movement has a chance. You guys are too disparate. You’re also full of right wingers and left wingers. Plus you have people inside your groups who HATE protesting and some who do.
You all seem to want just one way of doing things and don’r think much of what the concept of an eco-system actually means within a community. Plumbers, artists, bankers…..protests, long term strategies, guerilla technics sitting along side traditional campaigns..
What a bunch of nutters you all are.
Jon B
Carl Sagan, you’re a fucking douche bag. So are the rest of the people on here criticising the march. If you didn’t go, you’re the one to blame for whatever failure you percieve. I swear it’s like jaded queens always have a fucking opinion but when it comes to actually doing something, they just sit around and mock those trying to fight for their rights.
Honestly, if there was a failure, it wasn’t the organizers failure, unless no one knew about the march, it was the gays who stayed in New York, who stayed in Philly, who stayed in Boston, etc. A freaking Bolt Bus costs 20 bucks, you should have been down there, but you’re too precious.
Choke on a dick and free up some oxygen.
Mark in Dallas
Regrettably, it was only 20,000. I was there.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@ Carl S
Also, give yourself a big hug. You’ve done your community proud by being frank and honest.
Those disgusting filthy f*cking gays. Urgh, to see them march. All liars aren’t they Carl. Shoot them. One by one. For lying about the number of people marching.
How dare they. How dare they try and get people to feel inspired of get off that fat, complacent judgemental arses to actually do anything, for something as warped called a community?
F*ckers.
DC Native
It seems the “organizers” are now saying 50,000. That’s a big difference from yesterdays 250,000.
By 6pm tonight they may reach the realization that it was about 20,000. We can only hope.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@ Mark in Dallas
My pet hamster was there.
He told me it was more like 10 people.
Which one is right???????!!!!!
Did you count? Can you count 20,000 people?
Dude, you’re a god.
Cam
No. 29 · Carl Sagan said…
Cam, I’m someone who thinks it’s better to tell the truth than to make up lies. The teabaggers are a case in point. If they’d just owned up to 60,000 or 70,000, they’d wouldn’t have been the laughingstock they turned out to be.
_________________________
And I’m saying I saw both, if they really had 70,000 then this march was bigger. Again, I am basing this off of those two marches. If 70,000 is a valid number for the teabagger march, then this march is higher than that number. If you buy that number then this march has to be closer to 100,000. If this march got 20,000 then again, the TEabaggers must have had about 5,000, because the crowd was smaller. End of story.
Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan, you’re a fucking douche bag. So are the rest of the people on here criticising the march. If you didn’t go, you’re the one to blame for whatever failure you percieve. I swear it’s like jaded queens always have a fucking opinion but when it comes to actually doing something, they just sit around and mock those trying to fight for their rights.
Honestly, if there was a failure, it wasn’t the organizers failure, unless no one knew about the march, it was the gays who stayed in New York, who stayed in Philly, who stayed in Boston, etc. A freaking Bolt Bus costs 20 bucks, you should have been down there, but you’re too precious.
Choke on a dick and free up some oxygen.
My, my!
The “march” … er, lawn party/circuit party … was a joke from start to finish. Barney Frank was correct. You should have listened to him, and redirected efforts to where they might have actually done some good. But you see, the “youth” have the attention span of a gnat, and aren’t interested in working for anything, let alone telling the truth or hearing it.
Cam
No. 35 · DC Native said.
It seems the “organizers” are now saying 50,000. That’s a big difference from yesterdays 250,000.
By 6pm tonight they may reach the realization that it was about 20,000. We can only hope.
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REally? That is interesting, because here is the latest update on their webisite.
Washington, DC was filled with young and old from almost every state. Already the nay-sayers are doubting March estimates as a way to somehow prove they were right in the first place. But even they have the March at 50,000 which tells you already how many in reality attended. Trust me, they would have had it at 3 if they could have gotten way with it. I have attended Marches for over five decades and am a good judge of attendance. There, without a doubt, were somewhere between 150,000 at the low end and 250,000 at the high end. (We have been off-the-record confirmation of 250,000 from the Capital Police.)
_____________________________________________
So you are so hoping that the March fails DC Native that you are coming on here and misrepresenting what the organizers are saying? I’m not sure what you’re trying to gain by that. And unlike you, I’m fine with posting the link.
http://equalityacrossamerica.org/blog/
That goes to the updates from DAvid Mixner, one of the Organizers you are claiming is lowering the estimates.
Cam
No. 38 · Carl Sagan said.
The “march” … er, lawn party/circuit party … was a joke from start to finish. Barney Frank was correct. You should have listened to him, and redirected efforts to where they might have actually done some good.
______________________________
Hmm, having trouble here, could you remind me just which of the efforts Barney Frank was beind in the last 15 years that did any good?
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
At least we have one nice gay news outlet!
Maybe Andy from T is lying too!! Liar, liar pants on fire, was 20,000 Andy no more or less!!
http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/watch-scenes-from-the-national-equality-march.html
DC Native
Maybe 20,000. Wait until 6pm. The “estimates” will come back to earth.
Somebody has satellite photos, too. They’ll count the people.
Carl Sagan
We have all the information we need already. Adding more, i.e., satellite photos, won’t matter. The organizers and their fanbois are going to inflate the numbers no matter what. All anyone who’s interested in the reality needs to do is look at the C-Span footage or this link.
Carl Sagan
Oh, and Towle’s estimate was attributed to unnamed “police.” Towle was a promoter of the event, too. His number is just as unreliable as the other inflated claims being made.
Cam
No. 43 · Carl Sagan said…
We have all the information we need already. Adding more, i.e., satellite photos, won’t matter. The organizers and their fanbois are going to inflate the numbers no matter what. All anyone who’s interested in the reality needs to do is look at the C-Span footage or this link.
__________________________
Carl, interesting, the link you posted to was an anti-gay site…and additionally, something bothered me about the pictures, then I got it. In the crowd shots there is no evidence of the Huge Rainbow flags that were EVERYWHERE! Nice try, but even in pictures from that distance you could have seen those flags. The fact that you claim the C-Span shots back up your point but you didn’t link to them, then you link to a “Culture Warrior” site that is the same site that is supporting Pailin, and who’s writer is a regular contributer on FOX lets us know that you aren’t a “Gay” who dissagrees with the march, but rather you are anti-gay and just coming on here to cause trouble….again, nice try but next time you may want to photoshop in some Rainblow flags if you are going to claim that your pictures are of a gay parade.
ajax
Carl, really? Andy Towle was a “promoter of the event”? The same blogger who is vilified by the likes of Michelle Bachman? Glen Beck? Well, thank God you pointed that out to me. If you and Michelle AND Glen are against him – well, that totally changes things for me.
kakakakakakakakakaka
ricky
i sent photos to that university that glenn beck uses but can’t remember the name of to count the people. 1.7 to 2 million.
seems like a lot more people at this than for the i-hate-obama fest 2009 that the tea partiers threw.
and they were classier than them too.
Carl Sagan
a “Culture Warrior” site that is the same site that is supporting Pailin, and who’s writer is a regular contributer on FOX lets us know that you aren’t a “Gay” who dissagrees with the march, but rather you are anti-gay and just coming on here to cause trouble
Oh really! Then what explains this posting there? Child, did you even bother to read that site? Nah. Who needs to? Reading would be real work, and Equality marchers don’t do real work. They just pose, and that’s enough!
Dan in DC
Okay, anecdotal remarks from a DC resident who marched:
Yes, the West Lawn did not fill up. This is because the Capitol Police closed the center portion of the West Lawn before it was full. I was in approximately the seventh to last block of marchers, maybe a little further forward even, and we were being diverted to the left and right sides of the Lawn despite there being plenty of visible grass left to sit on in the center. And, since the sides had almost zero visibility and no better audio than the opposite side of the reflecting pool, this led a lot of us to decamp to said opposite side of the reflecting pool.
Upshot: No, there were definitely not 250,000 or even 100,000, but I think it WAS way more than 20,000. I wish we could have had a crowd estimate based upon the approximate number of marchers passing a fixed point or something.
Tell the Truth NEM
In the L.A. Times: The U.S. Park Police does not provide crowd counts. Phil Siegel, a march spokesman, put the head count at “more than 150,000.”
Phil Siegel is a liar. I was there and the crowd may have been 20,000 – not more.
This March will go down in history as the “small gathering” that said they were a “big crowd.”
taylor
from my experience online gays aren’t the best when it comes to being truthful about numbers. ages are lower and dick sizes are larger. i don’t find the inflated number at the march to be surprising.
Cam
No. 48 · Carl Sagan said….
a “Culture Warrior” site that is the same site that is supporting Pailin, and who’s writer is a regular contributer on FOX lets us know that you aren’t a “Gay” who dissagrees with the march, but rather you are anti-gay and just coming on here to cause trouble
Oh really! Then what explains this posting there? Child, did you even bother to read that site? Nah. Who needs to? Reading would be real work, and Equality marchers don’t do real work. They just pose, and that’s enough!
______________________
Carl, That was a posting there that was a story about how fox news Twitter feed was hacked with messages LIKE “Bill O’Reilly Sucks” You were so desperate to find ANYTHING on the site that wasn’t right wing that you didn’t even bother to read the story. But of course you didn’t respond to the main point of mine which was, the picture that the site posts, supposedly showing the gay march as being only a few thousand don’t show even one giant rainbow flag and as you’ve seen in any pictures from the march there were many large ones and thousands of small ones. So again, nice try.
Cam
No. 50 · Tell the Truth NEM said…
In the L.A. Times: The U.S. Park Police does not provide crowd counts. Phil Siegel, a march spokesman, put the head count at “more than 150,000.”
Phil Siegel is a liar. I was there and the crowd may have been 20,000 – not more.
This March will go down in history as the “small gathering” that said they were a “big crowd.”
_______________
Sorry, your post is too gleefull in talking about the small number. Somebody who was at the march would be dissappointed that the numbers were low. Again, nice try. Time Magazine is reporting that speaking with organizers AND local officials they put the number at 200,000. The March organizers are saying that the unofficial count from the Capitol Police puts the number at 250,000. The Capitol Police have not disputed that statement. So again, you can post all the phony pictures you want, link to anti-gay sites that claim to have photos of the march, but where there are no rainbow flags visible, but in the end, just give it up. We get it, you don’t like gays, you don’t want gays to have rights, fine, stick to running fake TV ads in Maine and CA. Your fake posts are too easy to spot here.