The crowd was young and loud, carrying homemade signs, beating aluminum garbage can lids, and singing and chanting. Popular chants were "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Homophobia's got to go," and "Arizona proud and free, marching against bigotry."

Still in pain, the stabbing victim, a philosophy junior who asked to remain unidentified, told the huge gathering, "With all my fear, with all my sadness, I do not become a victim. I become a man."

One week earlier, while sitting outside the Rainbow Planet Coffee House, he was stabbed in the back by a man who shouted, "Jesus hates fags," and "I just killed a f--ing faggot." Gary Grayson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat student newspaper described Grayson as being out of his mind. Instead, organizers of the march saw this crime as a consequence of anti-gay speech and legislation both here and nationally.

David Robinson of the University of Arizona English Department cited the California Knight Initiative, which aims to ban same-sex marriages. Legislation has also been proposed by Arizona state Rep. Jean McGrath requiring explicit notice in the college catalog of any course with homosexual content. Robinson called for Grayson to be tried for attempted murder instead of aggravated assault.

Three television stations covered the march. On ABC's Channel 9 Young Socialist Willie Cotton, in a short clip, linked resistance to violence against Blacks, gays, and undocumented workers on the border.  
 
 
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