Vol. 73/No. 42      November 2, 2009

Among the central demands of the march was the right of gay couples to civil marriage and to equal recognition of those unions in matters of immigration, health care, taxes, and all other areas. In 1996, the Clinton administration signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and allows each state to decide whether to recognize same-sex marriages. The marchers also demanded the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which bans military personnel from being openly gay while serving in the armed forces.

A debate unfolded on the eve of the action between the march organizers and those who said the march shouldn’t happen, that supporters of gay rights should wait for President Barack Obama’s administration to make good on its campaign promises.

Democratic congressman Barney Frank from Massachusetts led the attack on the action, calling it “useless” to march to try to pressure the Obama administration.

“The only thing they will be putting pressure on is the grass,” he told the press.

But speakers at the rally disputed that view. “We remember eight years … under a man named Bill Clinton,” Cleave Jones, one of the main organizers of the march, told the crowd. “Who went to our parties, who took our checks, who wrote flowery proclamations and gave some of us great jobs, and what did we get out of that? We got don’t ask, don’t tell and the Defense of Marriage Act.”

Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was a keynote speaker at the rally.

“When the Iowa supreme court held that the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important government objective,” Bond said, “the court stated simply we have a constitutional duty to ensure equal protection before the law.”

“Are gay rights civil rights? My answer always is of course they are,” Bond said. “Rights for gays and lesbians aren’t special rights in any way. It isn’t special to be free from discrimination.”

Bond added, “We people of color ought to be proud that our movement has provided so much inspiration for others.”

Obama spoke at a dinner the same night organized by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay rights organization in the United States.

He told the gathering that he had called upon Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. He also explained why allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces would help Washington pursue its wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve this country… . especially when we’re fighting two wars,” Obama told the gathering. “We cannot afford to cut from our ranks people with the critical skills we need to fight, any more than we can afford—for our military’s integrity—to force those willing to do so into careers encumbered and compromised by having to live a lie.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home