Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 26, 1993 TAG: 9304260102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The marchers, accompanied by family, friends and other supporters, streamed down Pennsylvania Avenue for more than six hours, jubilantly waving thousands of rainbow flags, a symbol of gay liberation.
At rallies on the Mall, many speakers linked the event in spirit and ambition to the historic 1963 civil-rights march on Washington and argued that after 30 years, homosexuals are the last segment of citizenry still to face legally sanctioned discrimination.
March leaders said the exuberance and commitment shown Sunday would bring great political gains and inspire thousands more gay men and women to celebrate - not hide - their sexual orientation.
"This whole experience has been very moving," said Barak Gale, 37, of Walnut Creek, Calif. "We don't want special rights; we just want the right to love like everyone else."
Richard Lamberty, 33, of Oakland, Calif., said: "Everywhere we've gone this week, we've felt we belong. It's incredible. Every restaurant. Every museum. Every subway station. Every street. There's no fear. For the first time in my life, I'm not afraid to be out in public. It's incredible. It's affirming. It's powerful. It's peaceful."
President Clinton, who campaigned aggressively for gay votes last fall, was out of town and did not attend the march, as many gay and lesbian leaders had pleaded with him to do. Instead, he sent a letter that was read to the demonstrators by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"I stand with you in the struggle for equality for all Americans, including gays and lesbians," Clinton said in the letter.
The president, who met with gay leaders in the White House this month, urged the country to "put aside what divides us and focus on what we share."
Gay-rights leaders celebrated the turnout - and the moment.
"We're coming in from the outside to take our place at the table," Torie Osborn, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, told the crowd. "This is the decade. We are coming home."
U.S. Park Police estimated that the crowd for the march, the first national gay-rights demonstration in six years, was about 300,000, far short of the 1 million that gay organizers had predicted. Organizers angrily disputed the Park Police estimate, and stuck by the 1 million figure, saying it had been confirmed by a D.C. government official.
That official, however, said his preliminary count was closer to 500,000.
For most of the day, the march proceeded in an orderly way.
Religious groups led some of the small counterdemonstrations along the route. On some corners, ministers stood alone and used bullhorns to tell the gay men and lesbian marchers to repent what the ministers described as the sin of homosexuality.
"You are a walking abomination! AIDS is your wake-up call! AIDS is God's judgment! AIDS is God's cure!" shouted Reuben Israel of Los Angeles.
Marchers sported signs and T-shirts reading: "Closets are for clothes," "Hate is not a family value," "I can't even march straight," "Because it's our country too" and "I teach your children."
Sunday's march was the culmination of a week of ceremonies and protests organized by gay and lesbian leaders to affirm their lives, secure more funding for AIDS care and research, and win passage of legislation that would ban discrimination against them.
Leaders of the march also said that it was held in part to pressure Clinton - whom many of them view as their best hope for change - to keep the promises he made to gay voters as a candidate.
Marchers were young and old, black, white, Hispanic and Asian. Some proceeded solemnly. Others treated the gathering as a party.
Although some participants said they expected the event to be derided as a fringe exercise, many said they felt they were being good Americans by coming to Washington to voice their concerns.
"We're organizing like all other groups have done," said Michael Shepherd, 37, of Columbus, Ohio. "You can still come here and vent your anger and express your citizenship rights."
by CNB