The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 1987. [1] [2] Its success, size, scope, and historical importance have led to it being called, "The Great March". [3] It marked the first national coverage of ACT UP, with AIDS activists prominent in the main march, as well as making headlines the next day during mass civil disobedience actions at the United States Supreme Court Building. [4]
The desire for a national march in the LGBT community was prompted by two major events in the 1980s: the AIDS pandemic, the Ronald Reagan administration's lack of acknowledgment of the AIDS crisis; and the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick upholding the criminalization of sodomy between two consenting men in the privacy of a home. [3] In 1986, Steve Ault and Joyce Hunter, co-coordinators of the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, drafted documents to extant lesbian and gay organizations soliciting interest in a new march. The response was favorable, and the two organized an initial planning meeting in New York City on July 16, 1986, where it was decided that the march would be held in 1987. [3] Representatives from all known lesbian and gay organizations were subsequently invited to a national conference in New York City on November 14–16, 1986 where they would discuss the politics, logistics and organization of the event. The delegates would be addressing four primary concerns:
The conference was held under the slogan "For love and for life, we're not going back!" [5]
Throughout the planning weekend, delegates debated many aspects of the march itself, including the needs of more marginalized members of the community – lesbian and gay people of color, those living in poverty and with disabilities. [3]
The second meeting of the steering committee was held in January 1987 in the City of West Hollywood at City Hall. Steve Ault, Pat Norman and Kay Ostberg were elected as the three national co-chairs of the event. [3]
The final organizational meeting for the march took place in Atlanta on May 2–3, 1987. This meeting served primarily to hammer out logistical details and determine the slate of individuals to speak at the rally.
The delegates at the West Hollywood convention chose seven primary demands to serve as the platform for the 1987 March. Each of these demands was supplemented with a broader list of demands which extended beyond the scope of single-issue LGBT concerns. In doing so, the organizers wished to underscore their recognition that oppression of one group affects oppression of all groups. [3] The seven primary demands were:
The march was part of six days of activities, with a mass wedding and protest in front of the Internal Revenue Service on October 10, and, three days later, a civil disobedience act in front of the Supreme Court building protesting its rulings upholding Bowers v. Hardwick . [4] The march, demonstration and rally also included the first public display of Cleve Jones's NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. [7]
The march itself was led by Cesar Chavez, Eleanor Smeal, Jesse Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and several other celebrities, who were followed by people with AIDS and their supporters, a number of whom were in wheelchairs. Members of ACT UP brought their brand of theatrical and photogenic direct action to the march, and were featured prominently in the media of the event. [4]
Speakers at the rally included, among others:
The 1987 march marked increased visibility for bisexuals. A bisexual contingent of about 75 (co-organized by artist Liz Nania) [12] marched, and then held the first nationwide bisexual gathering, which led to the eventual 1990 founding of the North American Bisexual Network. Lani Kaʻahumanu's article "The Bisexual Movement: Are We Visible Yet?", was also included in the Civil Disobedience Handbook for the Supreme Court action. [13]
The 200,000 person estimate, widely quoted from The New York Times, [1] was made several hours before the march actually began; similarly, most of the pictures the mainstream media used were taken early in the morning, or of the AIDS Quilt viewing area rather than of the much larger march itself. Police on the scene estimated numbers during the actual march to be closer to 750,000. [14] [15]
The event was supported and endorsed from its early stages by such national LGBT organizations as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. [3]
Faygele Ben-Miriam attended the March on Washington, who in September 1971 applied for a marriage license with his partner Paul Barwick in Seattle Washington. They later filed the suit Singer vs Hara, which ended in 1974 with a unanimous rejection by the Washington State Court of Appeals.
Energized by the sense of community, moved by the AIDS Quilt, and inspired by the activists from ACT UP New York, many participants returned home and started their own chapters of ACT UP or similar lesbian and gay rights organizations. [4]
A year later, in commemoration of the march, and to continue the momentum, the first National Coming Out Day was established.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The first organization to promote LGBT rights was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin.
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1987.
Ottawa Capital Pride is an annual LGBT pride event, festival, and parade held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Gatineau, Quebec, from mid to late August. Established in 1986, it has evolved into a 7 to 9-day celebration of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, advocating for equality, diversity, and inclusion in the National Capital Region. The festival offers bilingual events in English and French, known as 'Capital Pride / Fierté dans la capitale', seamlessly blending local pride with national importance.
The Audre Lorde Project is a Brooklyn, New York–based organization for LGBT people of color. The organization concentrates on community organizing and radical nonviolent activism around progressive issues within New York City, especially relating to LGBT communities, AIDS and HIV activism, pro-immigrant activism, prison reform and organizing among youth of color. It is named for the lesbian-feminist poet and activist Audre Lorde and was founded in 1994.
The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 1993. Organizers estimated that 1,000,000 attended the March. The D.C. Police Department put the number between 800,000 and more than 1 million, making it one of the largest protests in American history. The National Park Service estimated attendance at 300,000, but their figure attracted so much negative attention that it shortly thereafter stopped issuing attendance estimates for similar events.
The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 14, 1979. The first such march on Washington, it drew between 75,000 and 125,000 gay men, lesbians, bisexual people, transgender people, and straight allies to demand equal civil rights and urge the passage of protective civil rights legislation.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied social movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century. A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for LGBT people. Some have also focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia. LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of political activism and cultural activity, including lobbying, street marches, social groups, media, art, and research. Sociologist Mary Bernstein writes: "For the lesbian and gay movement, then, cultural goals include challenging dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity, homophobia, and the primacy of the gendered heterosexual nuclear family (heteronormativity). Political goals include changing laws and policies in order to gain new rights, benefits, and protections from harm." Bernstein emphasizes that activists seek both types of goals in both the civil and political spheres.
Melvin Boozer was a university professor and activist for African American, LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues. He was active in both the Democratic Party and Socialist Party USA.
Queer Liberaction (QL) is a Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas-based grassroots organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The group was founded in November 2008 following the international attention surrounding California's Proposition 8, which changed that state's Constitution to deny marriage rights to any LGBT couples who are not defined as "a man and a woman", passed by a slight majority. The organization is a proponent of same-sex marriage rights for LGBT couples, considering civil unions and domestic partnerships as less than full equality.
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The march was called for by activist David Mixner and implemented by Cleve Jones, and organized by Equality Across America and the Courage Campaign. Kip Williams and Robin McGehee served as co-directors. Leaders like actress Michelle Clunie, Courage Campaign marketing director, Billy Pollina and New York gubernatorial aide Peter Yacobellis hosted the first fundraiser in the spring of 2009. This was the first national march in Washington, D.C. for LGBT rights since the 2000 Millennium March.
The history of LGBT residents in California, which includes centuries prior to the 20th, has become increasingly visible recently with the successes of the LGBT rights movement. In spite of the strong development of early LGBT villages in the state, pro-LGBT activists in California have campaigned against nearly 170 years of especially harsh prosecutions and punishments toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.
New York state, a state in the northeastern United States, has one of the largest and the most prominent LGBTQ populations in the world. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote that New York City has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful" LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rises, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT Americans in New York City constitute by significant margins the largest self-identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in the United States, and the 1969 Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village are widely considered to be the genesis of the modern gay rights movement.
The Alliance of Queer and Ally Students is a student organization for LGBT and straight ally students of Michigan State University. One of the oldest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender groups in Michigan, it began in the early 1970s. First dubbed the Michigan State Gay Liberation Movement (GLM), some sources state the organization began in 1970, while others state it began in 1972.
The first English-language use of the word "bisexual" to refer to sexual orientation occurred in 1892.
This article addresses the history of gay men in the United States. Unless otherwise noted, the members of same-sex male couples discussed here are not known to be gay, but they are mentioned as part of discussing the practice of male homosexuality—that is, same-sex male sexual and romantic behavior.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC, men who have sex with men, or related culturally-specific identities. This timeline includes events both in Asia and the Pacific Islands and in the global Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora, as the histories are very deeply linked. Please note: this is a very incomplete timeline, notably lacking LGBTQ-specific items from the 1800s to 1970s, and should not be used as a research resource until additional material is added.
The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the country's LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty nominees were announced in June 2019, and the wall was unveiled on June 27, 2019, as a part of Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 events. Five honorees will be added annually.
In Washington, D.C., LGBT culture is heavily influenced by the U.S. federal government and the many nonprofit organizations headquartered in the city.
The history of bisexuality concerns the history of the bisexual sexual orientation. Ancient and medieval history of bisexuality, when the term did not exist as such, consists of anecdotes of sexual behaviour and relationships between people of the same and different sexes. A modern definition of bisexuality began to take shape in the mid-19th century within three interconnected domains of knowledge: biology, psychology and sexuality. In modern Western culture, the term bisexual was first defined in a binary approach as a person with romantic or sexual attraction to both men and women. The term bisexual is defined later in the 20th century as a person who is sexually and/or romantically attracted to both males and females, or as a person who is sexually and/or romantically attracted to people regardless of sex or gender identity, which is sometimes termed pansexuality.