Start date October 11, 1987 | ||
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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. Its success, size, scope, and historical importance have led to it being called, "The Great March". It marked the first national coverage of ACT UP, with AIDS activists prominent in the main march as well as the civil disobedience actions at the Supreme Court.
Contents
Background and planning
LGBT community desire for a new march was prompted by two major events in the 1980s: the spread of AIDS and 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. In 1986, Steve Ault & Joyce Hunter, co-coordinators of the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, drafted documents to extant LGBT 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. Representatives from all known LGBT 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:
- What will a March on Washington accomplish?;
- How should organizers and LGBT organizations proceed?;
- What should be the focus and platform of the event?; and
- When should the March take place? The conference was held under the slogan "For love and for life, we're not going back!"
Throughout the weekend, delegates debated many aspects of the march itself, including bisexual and transgender inclusion, needs of minorities and people of color, and whether or not to include non-LGBT-centric issues such as Apartheid as part of the march's platform. At the end of the weekend, the overall structure for the National Steering Committee had been set.
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. The delegates also finalized the march's platform and political purpose.
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.
Platform
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. The seven primary demands were:
Activities and speakers
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. The march, demonstration and rally also included the first public display of Cleve Jones' NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
The march itself was led by Cesar Chavez, Eleanor Smeal, Jessie Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and several other celebrities, who were followed by people with AIDS and their supporters. 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.
Speakers at the rally included:
The 200,000 person estimate, widely quoted from the New York Times, was made several hours before the march actually began; similarly, most of the pictures used by mainstream media were taken early in the morning, or of the AIDS Quilt viewing area rather than the march itself. Police on the scene estimated numbers during the actual march to be closer to three quarters of a million.
The event was supported and endorsed from its early stages by such national LGBT organizations as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Legacy
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.
A year later, in commemoration of the march, and to continue the momentum, the first National Coming Out Day was established.