OMG, you guys, I love Joe.My.God.! He’s, like… totally!
Those of us old enough to remember — and those of us still alive to remember — ACT-UP and Queer Nation (and, before geezers like me, Stonewall) have long wondered when the latest generation of queer kids will have their big moment of anger and solidarity. If our early-’90s demos were sexy acts of defiance, it’s time our demo children, born of those actions, came of age.
The flexing of the Republigious right wing, stinging from their defeat in the election and eager to find victims to bully, have set their sights on same-sex marriage. And it’s time for us to act up and fight back.
Brother Joe explains it all for you:
As I’ve said here before, I consider the 1993 March On Washington to have been the single most thrilling event of my entire life. I will never forget the rush of goosebumps and tears as my posse of Florida queers rode up that enormous subway escalator into Dupont Circle as hundreds of our brothers and sisters applauded our arrival from above. That weekend I took part in my first ACT UP demonstration at the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and laid sobbing in the middle of F Street as the Grim Reaper marked chalk outlines around our bodies. Still, somehow, the overwhelming mood was hopeful. Clinton had just taken office and all things seemed possible. And in many, many ways, things did get better.
This week we’re beginning to see the rumblings of a call for another March On Washington. Could the lightening of 1993 strike again? Or would we see another scandal-ridden fiasco like the 2000 Millennium March? Would it be remotely possible to organize and conduct another March without the overlords of the Human Rights Campaign? Should we? How would wemarshall our new and eager army of young queers? These kids are champing at the bit for a shot at their own Stonewall, their own Queer Nation. The LGBT world of the 21st century is larger, younger, and I think, smarter. I would love to watch.
I’ll totally buy a new pair of 8-eyelet, black Docs. SIgn me up.
3 comments
I was at that march in 93. it was the one where the government claimed there was, oh, about 100,000 of us, which was a big fat lie. More like ten times that many. The Thai restaurant we went to HAD RUN OUT OF RICE. In a country where the government refuses to count gays, singly or in couples, in its own census, is marching in great numbers a more effective way to be ‘counted?’ I’m not sure. They lied about our numbers then, they’d probably do it again. As a gesture of our collective will, however, I believe the march was effective. I’d do it again and I’d drag all my allies with me this time: mother, sister, nephew and niece, friends straight and gay. Load up the RV, folks! And don’t forget the insoles!
I also marched in ’93. I remember, it was just after my paternal Grandmother died. I went down, stayed with friends, and we all went to the march. I ended up with a nasty sunburn on the back of my calves, and some women from a Bi group took me into their marching group and dripped ice water on the sunburn. It was an AMAZING march. Remember gathering by the Monument? The feelings of family and love and acceptance were… just wow.
We need that again. We need that 10-fold. And we need more ANGER. We need to show people that we SHALL overcome. WE also have a dream, and it’s a dream where we’re all treated equally under the aegis of the law. We simply WILL NOT ACCEPT being second-class citizens. Not anymore.
I heard some black activist mention how the gay civil rights movement is “too new”–that their movement was 100 years old when they got civil rights.
Um–what?! The Mattachine Society started in 1950. The American civil rights movement didn’t start until 1955. WTH?
Anywho–let me know when this is going to be, and I’ll be there, with marching boots on.
I am also down for the march in 2009. It’s high time we made ourselves vocal and visible again for the entire nation.