With the change in our new logo design so must changes occur elsewhere. Our facebook page is now up-to-date and looks great. Thanks for all the positive feedback on our new image.

Stay tuned as we will be adding a section that will include marketing tools such as photos and fliers that can be downloaded for the march.

Click to view our new facebook face lift!

Young activist Nik Maciejewski, co-founder and organizer for the Chicago Join the Impact chapter, gave an interview about the National Equality March on feastoffun.com. Nik talks about why there’s an urgent need to fight for rights at the national level and takes a look at why young people are all of a sudden getting involved in activism.

Nik also discusses the development of midwestequality.org a newly formed grassroots organization designed specifically to organize for the National Equality March.

Their mission statement: Midwest Equality Coalition, an allied group of grassroots organizations, was formed in the wake of a call for a national march on Washington, D.C.  Working together with Equality Across America, the Coalition seeks to support individuals and groups wishing to join in this historic march.

Click to download and listen to his interview.

Click to learn more about how they are organizing and preparing for the National Equality March.

Nice job Nik!

Affirmation: Gay and lesbian Mormons has officially endorsed the 2009 March for Equality planned for October 10 and 11 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In a letter to March organizers, Affirmation Executive Director David Melson Stated, “As the largest and oldest organization representing LGBT Mormons, we regret the actions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to attempt to restrict the freedoms, rights, and the dignity of gay Americans and to try to impose the religious tenets of one faith upon all citizens. We feel that we have an obligation to speak out.”

Affirmation has pledged to provide organizational support, speakers, and any other assistance that it can offer to the march organizers. Affirmation was a part of the first March on Washington in 1979, and has continued to speak out on the national forum ever since.

Click to go to their recruiting page of their website.

Long time gay activist Steve Ault called out on his recent blog about the National Equality March. Posted by Irregular Times Jim, he questions the logic in response to Steve’s post:

“Briefly, here’s how our first three marches were organized and structured. The primary decision-making steering committee, national in scope, was comprised of delegates elected at regional meetings, assuring representation from all parts of the country while also mandating gender parity and inclusion of people of color. National organizations and spokespeople from unrepresented and underrepresented constituencies were added to make sure just about everyone had a seat at the table. The leadership was in turn elected from and by the steering committee. This decision-making process — admittedly contentious and chaotic at times — won acceptance as fair and inclusive. The ability to be both heard and represented motivated people from all over the country to commit time, energy, and resources to building these marches — a factor at the very heart of their success.”

Jim writes:

“What’s the goal here? To have a social movement based on inclusive decision-making that incorporates representatives from various constituencies and organizations? Or to place pressure on government to enact policy change? For those who respond “Both!,” well, let me force you to go back and pick a primary goal. Which is more important to you?

If you had a March on Washington advocating for policy change you thought was important, and yet it was organized through a non-inclusive process, would you go or stay home?

Conversely, if you had a March on Washington advocating for policy changes that you didn’t agree with, and yet was organized through an inclusive process, would you go or stay home?

There are many (I’m thinking of participants in the anarchist, cooperative and — sometimes — feminist movements) for whom process is king, for whom the movement itself is the goal, an embodiment of a process of social living that is accomplished every day by the act of organizing in the right way. The goal of these processual movements is not primarily to get a law passed, or stop a bad law from getting passed, but of spreading the movement, growing the movement, propagating the mode of living that the movement represents.

I respect the existence of these kinds of movements, but I’m not part of all that. Oh, back when I was an undergraduate student I used to be. I used to spend hours in late-night consensus sessions, breaking into small work groups and then coming back to the larger body to report, listening to hours of conversation about the name of a group or the standards for deciding how decisions would be made by the group. We could spend hours and hours doing this… because we had the time. Now that my life is busier and occupied with concerns like food and preventing my kids from getting flattened by oncoming flatbed trucks, I don’t have the time for meetings like this. I’m not, as the academics like to say, biographically available for such high-commitment activism.”

Click to read more.

I can personally vouch for his comments. I “accidentally” signed up to volunteer my services and it now takes up most of my day. Fortunately, my partner can tend to business while I assist in this effort. Jim is right….most activists do not have the physical time to assist in the planning of the march on Washington.

If I were a college student right now I would probably be writing something different.

Just sayin and join us for the National Equality March on Washington on October 10-11, 2009.

On July 13, the producers of the Broadway musical Hair announced that they were canceling the Sunday matinee on Oct. 11 so that the cast could join the National Equality March that day in Washington in support of gay-marriage rights. Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater, and producer of Hair, said that the decision reflected the spirit of the musical.

Check out www.Ridebuzz.org for a free online rideshare website that’s easy to use, and will help you connect with community members looking to share rides for one time trips, road trips, shopping and commutes.

A rideshare group has been created for the National Quality March. Click to visit the site and post a ride or catch one.

Besides saving cash or assisting others, Rideshare is also a green way to get to D.C.

Click to download a flyer for this great program.

Southwest Florida gay activist group S.W.F.L. have created a round trip bus package for $210 and includes hotel accommodations.

Click to sign up . We applaud this effort and would encourage other groups to create similar creative ways to get to Washington on a budget.

Have you created a similar package? Email us with the information so we can post it on our site.

From Memphis Gaydar, Bianca Philips

During the march, LGBT folks and straight allies will be demanding full federal LGBT equality in matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. That means the right to marry, employment protection, an end to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and inclusive hate crime legislation.

“We’re tired of local and state legislative bodies trying to piecemeal the effort by passing ordinances here and there,” said local organizer Tommy Simmons. “We want equal rights at the federal level across the board. Case closed.”

Previous gay right marches in 1979, 1987, and 1992 drew anywhere from 100,000 to 250,000 people, and this march is expected to meet or even exceed attendance from past years. All the previous marches boasted delegations from Memphis.

Unlike in year’s past, however, this march will not feature celebrities or fancy after-parties. The goal is strictly a grassroots effort in lobbying the federal government for LGBT rights. Simmons recommends attendees arrive in DC by Friday, October 9th since there will be a series of lobbying training meetings on the Saturday before the march.

It’s not too late to join the local delegation. Those interested should join the National Equality March’s 9th Congressional District Facebook page. There will also be another informational meeting at the MGLCC on Tuesday, August 11th at 6:30 p.m. Click to read more.