almost 20 years ago were you there? (April 1993 march on Washington)

[William769]

Last edited Thu Nov 15, 2012, 04:06 AM - Edit history (2)

Park police put the numbers at 300,000. Media put the numbers at 700,000. LGBT organizations put the numbers at a little over a million.

I was there, although I didn't do a head count (I was counting other things), I can tell you this, we owned that town for the weekend. I had never felt so much love radiating in one area in all my life.

We were there for several reasons 12 years of Reagan/Bush, enough was enough! Our friends were dying at a alarming rate and nothing was being done. We wanted the ban lifted on Gay's in the military (DADT was not here yet). Yes back then we wanted equality for LGBT even in marriage. We wanted sodomy laws lifted. Most of all we were tired of fighting repressive legislation.

I was there with a theatrical troupe to raise money for people with AIDS. We performed two musicals a night (3 hours each) for a week. We raised more money than we could ever had hoped for (every show was a sell out).

Doing two musicals a night sightseeing in the daytime (I had never been to Washington D.C. before), being surrounded by so many like minded people was intoxicating to say the least.

That was almost 20 years ago. People with AIDS are living longer now, LGB serve openly in the Military, sodomy laws are history, 8 States plus the District of Columbia have marriage equality (within the year SCOTUS could very well make it legal in all 50 States).

2012 has been a very good year for the LGBT Community, President Obama has been very good to the LGBT Community.

But now is not the time to let our guard down. We still have work to do discrimination in the work place, housing, keeping their feet to the fire until DOMA is gone & we enjoy all the rights that out heterosexual counterparts do (thankfully we have many many allies). Most of all we need to stop the hate & the bullying.

I now live with AIDS, with losing my life partner I may never get the chance to marry, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop fighting for the rest of the community.

In closing I ask if you were at the march in 1993 share your story with us and I will leave you with a video clip I found at the bottom to give you a little taste of what I experienced on that great day that we marched on Washington.

[kevinbgoode1]

1. I was there!

And I was there in 1979, and 1987, and at some AIDS demonstrations/quilt unveilings. This march was awesome - at the time, I was in graduate school at the University of South Carolina, and we had our first student contingent ever at that march. I remember because I bought them a huge Carolina flag to wave proudly and they all had the best time that weekend!

I also remember because my then-partner flew in from Chicago and we spent the weekend together. . .I attended my first meeting of the budding National Gay and Lesbian Journalist Association, ran around all over the Mall and DuPont Circle and attended a comedy performance.

I also remember that trip being a landmark of sorts - a dear straight friend brought her teenage daughter, taking a long overnight train from southern Illinois - it was her first trip to Washington and she wanted her daughter to see both the sites and support us. Sadly, she passed a few years ago, but whenever I think of that march, I think of how much I loved her and what sacrifices she made to show her love for all of us.

It was also the first time I ever had a sleeper on the train - well, one of those closet-sized roomettes from Greenville to DC - and how a very close friend in Greenville met me and got me to the train on time (I lived in Columbia then) late in the evening. Sadly, that friend is gone now as well.

But this march was magical - the night was almost electric with joy everywhere we went. The restaurants full of well-wishers and happy people, the march so massive that it nearly took our breath away. . .the long, long, long wait in the grass before it was our turn to march. . .I'll never forget that. . .I just have difficulty believing that it was almost 20 years ago now!!!

[Mothdust]

2. i lived too far away

And couldn't afford to fly over, but I remember reading about it in the advocate. BTW, you WILL live to be married because you are a wonderful person who deserves to have that if It's what you desire. Hang in there : )

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. I was there. Last minute decision to drive down Saturday a.m., as I recall.

I remember the 2000 March much better.

I'n '93 I was just starting to do GLBT political activism in NY in a big way.... so I thought I *had* to be part of the DC march.

*Little* things I remember from '93.

The fact that we took over the entire Metro system that Sunday.

The sound of people blowing whistles in the Metro station ( Washington Monument?) as we approached the staging area.

The ... what seemed to me.... extreme youth of most of the crowd.

And its commensurate enthusiasm.

Or maybe it was its sense of purpose: AIDS was everywhere.

How far people had come to attend that march. Geographically..... and otherwise.

A sense that we were turning a corner: Clinton was still new.

[Vanje]

4. Love this

Wish I'd have been there.

[BillStein]

5. we were there

We took a bus from Philadelphia. I-95 was full of buses going to Washington from all over- we knew it was gonna be huge!

The Mall was so crowded, the actual march was halted for hours. It was hot and humid and we looked for a place to sit in the shade- we finally settled on these marble steps. Eventually I looked around and realized we were at the headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution! too perfect!

We finally got on the metro and went to DuPont Circle for lunch. We were sitting on the train and I saw a straight couple in the front seat holding each other for dear life. They were the only breeders in the car! Riding that long escalator to the street I was overcome by thfeeling that I was part of the majority! An amazing feeling.

I still think they underestimated the crowd- I was there for other events, including anti-war rallies in the 70's, and nothing else came close for sheer numbers. For one day, the capital belonged to us!

[swimboy]

6. The mister and I were there.

Really exciting to be a part of it.

We ran into my cousin there and not a one of us was surprised.

It's so much better already than it was then but there is still so much to attain.

[Scruffy Rumbler]

7. I was there.

Living in NOVA, volunteering with the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of DC and marched with their contingent. Was joined by my lesbian roommates, my 'straight but not narrow friend, my brother and his partner from LA and (for me the best part) my out and proud 59 yo mother. She and her partner came by bus from our home town area with others.

Some great memories.... packed metro trains running into and out of the city; the crowds chanting as we rode up the Dupont Circle escalator, looking down the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial at the seemingly endless sea of people all there for the same reason...to be counted. Oh ya, and the few feeble "godly" ones there to protest.

Coming out at the Smithsonian station and coming up the stairs... you could feel the vibrations in the air from the deafening noise of the crowd and when finally reaching the open air...OMG the crowd... to be in the middle of it....life changing.

Thanks for this thread, William769.

[dickthegrouch]

8. 5 of us staying in a hotel off DuPont Circle

I Flew in on Thursday. IIRC It SNOWED on Friday, cold and nasty Saturday. But there was so much sun on Sunday, the day of the march, that we rapidly ran out of suntan lotion (too many cuties to rub down ), and raining so hard on Monday that I actually stopped driving because I couldn't see enough to risk going any further in a city I didn't know.

I still ask fundies if their vicious god got the date wrong, or was he really on our side?

I remember the huge disco in a warehouse in Anacostia where I met the tallest guy I've ever seen (His nipple was at mouth height to me - I'll leave the rest to your imagination).

I also let Wayne Besen slip through my fingers He lived in FL, me in CA, but for a few hours we were inseparable.

Added on edit:
Oh, and the Constituent breakfast with Dianne Feinstein where I asked the other techies from CA to help me teach Bruce Babbitt to count (since the park service, of which he was the head, so woefully under counted us. The Museum guards on the mall said it was larger than the anti-Vietnam rally many years previously).