March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation
Encyclopedia
The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation was a large political rally
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...

 that took place in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 on April 25, 1993. Organizers estimated 1,000,000 attended the March, but the National Park Service estimated attendance at 300,000.

Background and Planning

Between the 1987 March on Washington
Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
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...

 and the early 1990s, lesbians and gays achieved much more mainstream visibility than they ever had in the past. However, the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 community still faced vast discrimination, through such policies as Don't Ask Don't Tell, Colorado's Amendment 2
Romer v. Evans
Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with civil rights and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to deal with LGBT rights since Bowers v...

, and rising occurrences of LGBT-targeted hate crimes. Amid this climate, Urvashi Vaid
Urvashi Vaid
Urvashi Vaid is an American activist who has worked for over 25 years promoting civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.- Political activism :...

 of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force builds the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from the ground up. The Task Force is the country’s premier social justice organization fighting to improve the lives of LGBT people, and working to create positive, lasting...

 spearheaded the movement for a third LGBT March.

In January 1991, Vaid sent a letter to LGBT organizations across the US to garner support for a third march and to invite them to send delegates to a planning meeting on March 9, 1991, in Washington, DC. No consensus was made regarding the march's potential date at this meeting, so a secondary meeting was arranged in Washington, DC, for the weekend of May 11–12, 1991. This meeting provided the mandate for the march itself: to rebuild and reinvigorate local and national activists. Subsequent organizational meetings took place in Chicago (August 1991), Los Angeles (January 1992), Dallas (May 1992), Denver (October 1992) and Washington DC (February 1993).

Platform and Demands

March organizers set forth seven primary demands, each with supplemental secondary demands. The primary demands are as follows:
  • We demand passage of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights bill and an end to discrimination by state and federal governments including the military; repeal of all sodomy laws and other laws that criminalize private sexual expression between consenting adults.
  • We demand massive increase in funding for AIDS education, research, and patient care; universal access to health care including alternative therapies; and an end to sexism in medical research and health care.
  • We demand legislation to prevent discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the areas of family diversity, custody, adoption and foster care and that the definition of family includes the full diversity of all family structures.
  • We demand full and equal inclusion of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the educational system, and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies in multicultural curricula.
  • We demand the right to reproductive freedom and choice, to control our own bodies, and an end to sexist discrimination.
  • We demand an end to racial and ethnic discrimination in all forms.
  • We demand an end to discrimination and violent oppression based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, identification, race, religion, identity, sex and gender expression, disability, age, class, AIDS/HIV infection.

Speakers and Events

In the days surrounding the March, a wide range of events serving different subsets of the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 community were held throughout Washington, DC. These included historical exhibits, religious services, lobbying events, social gatherings, art exhibits, political workshops, public service events and candlelight vigils.

Speakers and performers at the rally following the march included Judith Light
Judith Light
Judith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...

, Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...

, RuPaul
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...

, Martina Navratilova, Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...

, Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

, Lani Ka'ahumanu
Lani Ka'ahumanu
Lani Ka'ahumanu is a bisexual and feminist writer and activist. She is openly bisexual and writes and speaks on sexuality issues frequently.She is the co-editor with Loraine Hutchins of Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out ....

, and Urvashi Vaid
Urvashi Vaid
Urvashi Vaid is an American activist who has worked for over 25 years promoting civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.- Political activism :...

.

See also

  • National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
    National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
    The 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 and transgender people and straight allies to demand...

     (1979)
  • Millennium March on Washington
    Millennium March on Washington
    The Millennium March on Washington was an event to raise awareness and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and issues of LGBT rights in the US, it was held April 28 through April 30, 2000 in Washington, DC. The Millennium Pride Festival was held prior to the March, it was...

     (2000)
  • National Equality March
    National Equality March
    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 people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...

     (2009)
  • List of protest marches on Washington, D.C.

External links

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