A Return to March

BY: COLIN MURPHY

    There is nothing quite so empowering as standing on the National Mall amid the monuments and marble of our Nation’s Capital with one million of your gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) brothers and sisters.

    In April 1993 I made the pilgrimage to Washington DC to join members of my tribe for the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. It was a riveting experience that helped to cement my GLBT activism at a young age and illustrate our community’s connectedness to not just each other, but the American story.

    There in the shadow the majestic Capitol dome and the iconic memorials to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln we gathered at the dawn of a new and promising presidency. President Bill Clinton had campaigned as a supporter of GLBT Equal Rights and enjoyed a Democratic controlled Congress. Indeed, it seemed the height of promise and possibility.

    As I stood with my tribe, I could hear the echoes of marches past—the soaring oratory of Dr. King, the haunting soprano of Marian Anderson, and the battle cries of Women’s Suffrage and Vietnam. Like them, we were engaging our democracy in civil protest and calling for the fulfillment of our nations founding principle that all men (and women) are created equal.

    Sadly, despite being an ally, the promise of the Clinton presidency went mostly unfulfilled in terms of major gains for GLBT equality. So it goes without saying that the similarities between 1993 and 2009 have not gone unnoticed.

    On Oct. 10-11 the GLBT community will again gather on the National Mall at the dawn of a new and promising presidency. Similarly, President Obama enjoys supportive leadership in Congress and given the palpable history of last year’s election, the air remains ripe with promise and possibility.

    Our country has progressed a great deal over the past 16-years with same sex marriage now legal in five states. Still, we have yet to see the passage of basic Federal employment nondiscrimination or hate crimes legislation.

    Accordingly, we must build on the growing momentum GLBT Equality has enjoyed these last few years and learn the lessons of recent history; including the failures and unfulfilled promise of well intentioned allies.

    We must demand two things from President Obama and the leadership in Congress: quick action on what is achievable and a timeline for moving more politically sensitive legislation towards passage. For we are so very tired of being taken for granted and justified in our anger at being ignored.

    First, our community is well aware of the political realities of President Obama’s waning public opinion numbers in the face of the healthcare fight and the monumental mess that he inherited from his predecessor. But we also know that if he cannot deliver on Federal hate crimes and employment nondiscrimination laws to protect the GLBT community when self-described allies control both Congress and the White House and public opinion is now on our side; then he will not only have failed the GLBT community, but the quiet charge of history.

    What’s more, if our leaders deliver on these two key issues then our community will be far more likely to swallow the course political pill of having to wait for any action on overturning Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or the Defense of Marriage Act until a second Obama term. In the absence of acting boldly, Mr. President, at least act on what is achievable.

    We should also demand a greater dialogue from our leaders on the Marriage Equality front. Since last November’s election three states have legalized same sex marriage with nary a peep from our leaders in Washington. They mustn’t cower from but rather embrace this opportunity; to use it as a teachable moment. Similarly, their silence on the all too un-American practice of putting equal rights up to a popular vote as seen with California’s Proposition 8 and with a similar vote gearing up this fall in Maine is unacceptable.

    Thirty years ago the GLBT community marched on Washington for the first time and doggedly returned in 1987, 1993 and 2000. This October we return again armed with new optimism in the promise of the moment but sobered by the lessons of administrations past. We return again to demand of our elected officials bold leadership and action. We return again to fulfill the American promise that all are created equal. We return again, from grassroots to national leaders, to rededicate ourselves to that dream. Alas, we return again.

You can email Colin Murphy at colin_murphy@sbcglobal.net