From counterpunch.org, Beth Sherouse, August 31, 2009

Since movement veteran Cleve Jones announced plans for a national gay rights march on Washington following the passage of California’s Prop. 8 last November, reactions from the LGBT community have been mixed. Supporters of October’s National Equality March are adopting a grassroots lobbying strategy, demanding “Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states,” and promoting a more direct appeal to the federal government for LGBT rights. Lukewarm supporters and skeptics of the march, mainly organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and state Equality groups, are concerned that the march will drain resources from the state-by-state approach for marriage equality. Critics of the march movement are also concerned that this march may share the fate of previous gay rights marches in ’79, ’87, ’93, and 2000, which seem to have accomplished little.

I have been a supporter of HRC for most of my adult life, and I have worked with both state, local, and campus organizations in South Carolina and Georgia. While I will continue to support such organizations, I think a national approach offers more hope for me and other South Carolinians than anything HRC or state-by-state marriage equality can offer.

South Carolina is one of only five states that has no hate crimes laws; other than a limited policy in the city of Columbia, there are no laws banning discrimination in employment or housing based on sexual orientation or gender identity; and the 2006 constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage in SC passed by 78%. For people who do not live in California or Massachusetts, for those who are part of otherwise disadvantaged communities, for those who live in constant fear of employment discrimination and physical violence because their states give them no protection, for those whose lives and relationships are invisible to most of America, marriage equality in progressive states is nothing more than a symbolic victory, and symbols cannot help them provide for their families or protect themselves from discrimination.

I do not plan to spend the rest of my life in SC. But for those LGBT folks who call South Carolina home, gay marriage fights in states like Maine and California offer little more than momentary comfort against communities in which they will remain second-class citizens for the foreseeable future unless the federal government intervenes. The state-by-state approach to equality seems meaningless in a state that has historically been several decades behind the rest of the country in terms of civil rights. If the federal government had left the battle for desegregation up to states to fight on their own, de jure segregation would arguably still be in place here in SC and a few of its neighboring deep South states.

We need to build support behind a federal gay rights agenda, because if we leave our rights up to the conservative majorities in states across the nation, we will never achieve equality. LGBT Americans should ALL enjoy the same civil rights as their heterosexual counterparts, whether they live in San Francisco or Atlanta, New York or Charleston. The federal government must step in and defend our civil rights in places where our community cannot adequately defend itself, and we must show Washington lawmakers that we are looking to them to change laws as we go about the work of changing hearts and minds.

So this is why we march on Washington on October 10-11. We march because at no time in our nations’ history have gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people been more visible and political. We march because marriage is but one of the many rights and privileges that we deserve as citizens of this country, and because it is time for the Obama administration to make good on its promises to the LGBT community. We march because as Americans, our civil rights should not depend on our sexual orientation or gender identity, nor should they depend on what state we live in. We march because visibility matters and is the key to dismantling the foundations of prejudice and discrimination. And we march with the hope that standing in solidarity with each other and asserting our place in this nation has transformative potential.

Beth Sherouse is a Graduate Assistant in the Department of History at the University of South Carolina.

Excerpts from the Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff, August 28, 2009

THERE’S MUCH consternation within the LGBT rights movement of late over the issue of the planned National Equality March set for Oct. 10-11 in D.C.

On one side: Left Coast advocates like Cleve Jones and Dustin Lance Black who are lending their celebrity to help promote the cause. On the other: East Coast lobbyists worried about diverting precious resources from state marriage fights so we can have a party on the National Mall this fall.

The inside-the-Beltway take on the march goes something like this: Those Hollywood gays don’t know how D.C. works — duh, Congress isn’t even in session. President Obama will be relaxing at Camp David that weekend. No one will be here to witness the march. Do they even have a permit?
You can’t just show up at the Mall and start hootin’ and hollerin’. We should all skip D.C. and go to Maine where the real fight is happening. And they shouldn’t even be calling it a “march,” it’ll bloat expectations in the mainstream media; let’s call it a “gathering” instead.

As we learned in the Proposition 8 fight, the key to legislative victories lies in winning over our fellow citizens, black and white, rich and poor, religious and agnostic. The way to win them over is to get to know them and for them to get to know us. That, of course, is accomplished through visibility. From individuals coming out in their communities to Ellen DeGeneres and “Will & Grace” bringing gays and lesbians to TV and popular culture to Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin demonstrating that open gays can win election to high office, it’s all about visibility.

No one should dissuade LGBT people from coming out — or marching in the streets. If a group of activists, however small or large, wants to stage a march, they ought to do just that.

And there are encouraging signs that organizers have adopted sensible goals that extend beyond the October march.

THE GOAL OF the event, according to the National Equality March site: “Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. We will accept no less and will work until it is achieved. Equality Across America exists to support grassroots organizing in all 435 Congressional Districts to achieve full equality.”

Happily, there’s no flashy concert planned. This is about a grassroots movement of people still angry over Prop 8 and frustrated by the Democrats’ slow progress on our issues in this Congress. They turned out en masse for protests around the country after Prop 8 and now they want to converge on D.C. to amplify their message. For those who can’t join the march, organizers are urging them to personally lobby their members of Congress.

Some state-based activists have expressed legitimate concerns about diverting resources to fund a presence at the march at a time when they’re fighting marriage and other battles at home. Of course, those battles should take precedence over a national march and state organizers worried about the march should skip it and stay focused on their important legislative initiatives at home.

But for those seeking an outlet for all that pent up frustration — particularly younger people energized by the change rhetoric of late and connected as never before by social networking technologies — this march represents a unique outlet and a chance to be seen.

The rest of us should either applaud their passion or get out of the way and let them march. Click to read the entire story.

Get on the bus to DC for LGBT equality!

Join Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) people and allies from across Western Massachusetts as we march on Washington, DC on Sunday, October 11, 2009, to demand full equality in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states: NOW!

To learn more about the march, visit the main march website here.

Buses will be leaving from Amherst and Northampton.
A round-trip ticket for one person is $60-$120 (sliding scale-pay more than $60 to help low-income marchers attend).

Spaces are filling up quickly, so reserve your seat today!

To reserve and pay for a spot on the bus, email us at equalitywmass@gmail.com or call 617-851-5354 to confirm that there is space.

You can pay by cash or check, so I will either send you an email with an address to mail a check (made out to “Equality WMass”) or let you know where we will be tabling in the community that week (see schedule at left) so you can pay in person.

We’ve also set up a Paypal account if you’d like to pay online through your Paypal balance, bank account, or credit card. Just click the “Donate” button below. Please note that if you pay by this method, add $2.04 to your amount (Paypal charges a fee: so a minimum of $62.04), and email us at equalitywmass@gmail.com or call 617-851-5354 so we make sure to get your information and register that you paid.

Also, PLEASE DONATE what you can! You can sponsor a seat for a low-income activist for $60, one and a half for $90, or two for $120. But, of course, any amount helps!

From Broadwayworld.com

Join us on September 20th to help celebrate and promote Equality Across America’s march on Washington D.C. on October 11th. EXHIBIT EQUALITY will be a mixed media explosion combining performance art with visual art and fashion design all for one cause, equality.

In addition to showcasing their work to the community, each artist will design an equality themed piece to be auctioned for Equality Across America.

In preparation for the march this will be an amazing evening bringing light to our nation’s struggle for equality. What better way to do this than to combine this mobilization with a celebration of art and the artist?

The event will feature art exhibits and performances by some of New York’s most sought after visual and performance artists including Rachel Williams, Donna Dove, Michael Lazar, Ano Okera, Billy Griffin, Caitlin Krisko, Danny Schmittler, and Will Van Dyke. The event is being presented at Space On White, which is a new artistic facility in TriBeCa run by Broadway actress Chasten Harmon of the hit revival of HAIR. HAIR star Gavin Creel’s grassroots organization Broadway Impact has signed on as a sponsor as well as Broadway Speaks OUT which is run by HAIR actor Anthony Hollock and his partner, Martin Gould Cummings.

In addition to these Broadway groups Proud Ally has also signed on as a sponsor. Proceeds from Exhibit Equality will go to benefit The National March for Equality.

Press Release from the Rainbow Sash Movement, August 28, 2009

On October 11, 2009 Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) people will march on Washington DC. The March was called for by Cleve Jones a gay activist and founder of the Names Project. We believe this march to be about justice, and fairness for Gay Family Values. This is why the Rainbow Sash Movement is endorsing this march.

Our endorsement of the March is not based on whom or who has not given their stamp of approval. Our support is based on the biblical call for justice for all humankind. The detractors of the March have every right to voice their opposing opinion; however, what they do not have a right to do is engage in name calling and innuendo.

We believe our movement is larger than the petty clash of egos that is taking place around the march. We call on all to listen to their better angels, and temper the mean-spirited attacks. Cleve Jones like the rest of humanity is far from perfect, and like the rest of us is entitled to his good name. Whether we have enough time to organize for this march or not is no longer an issue, the march is going to take place.

Not unlike the original March on Washington in 1979, the air is alive with drama. But success or non-success of this march will depend more on our ability to find common ground, and listen and respect each other even in our differences. This will define the success of this march. We are a community of wonder, and at the same time all too frail and human. Our divisions can make our family stronger, or they can tear us apart. Which will it be?

Members of the Rainbow Sash Movement will jump on buses to go to March from all over the country. For many this will be their first march. Others will have attended previous Marches, all will be coming with Hope that in the face of fear we are able to stand with our feet firmly planted on the earth and call out for justice.

This march is not so much about numbers as it is about courage: the courage to stand up and be counted. For the March detractors if you cannot march with us for whatever reason at least remember us in your prayers. We may disagree on the March but I think you would agree that the Liberation Movement sparked by Stonewall is alive and well not only in our hearts, but in the hearts of those whose shoulders we stand on.

Finally we are calling for support for this March and all its many organizers across the nation. We ask if you cannot march with us that you pray for a safe march.