500,000 demonstrate for gay rights, AIDS funding

Scan page 4

In a powerful testament to the strength and political potential of the gay-rights movement, an estimated crowd of 500,000 participated in the Oct. 11 March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights.

The demonstration brought together hundreds of contingents, including AIDS victims and AIDS-support groups, gay campus groups, gay seniors, parents and friends of gays, and many other groups from across the country. Thousands of people marched behind banners simply identifying their home towns—many coming from places as distant as Texas, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawail.

Not since the first national March on Washington for gay rights drew some 100,000 participants in 1979, have gay and lesbian organizations sought to mobilize such a wide-scale and visible demonstration of their strength and self-organization.

The call for this second March on Washington clearly struck a chord deep in the heart of the gay community. It provided a welcome opportunity to protest the increasing backlash against gays and lesbians that has been hyped by the AIDS panic.

March organizers adopted the slogan "For love and for life, we're not going back. They were able to rally support around a number of diverse demands—including calls for legal recognition of gay and lesbian relationships, passage of a lesbian and gay bill of rights, and a demand for increased government funding for AIDS education, research, and patient care.

"Silence equals death"

T-shirts and placards bearing slogans such as "Silence equals death" and "Fight AIDS, not people with AIDS" provided a moving reminder of the devastating toll that the AIDS epidemic has taken.

But the mood of the crowd that marched down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White Tina Beacock/Socialist Action House for a rally at the Capitol was far from down-trodden. It appeared that most participants came with a strong determination to demonstrate their pride as a community and to demand their right to equal treatment.

"We can no longer afford to stand idly by when fellow lesbians and gays are beaten or insulted," said John Bush, an activist with Black and White Men Together in Philadelphia. "We have to stand up and say 'We're gay and we're here."

March organizers and many of the speakers likened the march to the Black civil-rights mobilizations of the 1950s and '60s. "We are not just the sons and daughters of Harvey Milk," said lesbian activist Virginia Apuzzo, who addressed the rally. "We are the sons and daughters of Rosa Parks.

"You opened our eyes"

United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez pointed out the need for solidarity between the labor and gay-rights movements. "We stand with you today in solidarity," Chavez stated, "never forgetting that you came to our aid, never forgetting that the support that you gave us opened our eyes to your problems.

"We want civil rights for lesbian and gay people," Chavez concluded, "and we want civil rights for farmworkers and all those who are denied their civil rights."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who march organizers say was invited to speak because of his role in the civil-rights movement rather than because of his presidential candidacy, addressed the rally late in the afternoon.

Jackson called for "equal protection for everyone in the real America." He also called for increased funding for AIDS research: " AIDS is an international, medical crisis that cannot be localized or nationalized or moralized. We must be willing to put up the money and put our minds together. We must and we can end the AIDS crisis as we have dealt with other diseases."

Nonetheless, Jackson took the opportunity to promote his campaign, telling the rally: "if you want a president who cares, let me serve. Today I stand with you, election day you stand with me."

"Funds for AIDS, not contras"

Actor Robert Blake perhaps put his

----- pull-quotes -----

VING mih AIDS dy to a counting! NO THANKS TO YOU MR REAGAN