09/30/2009
NAACP Chair Julian Bond, Judy Shepard, Lt. Dan Choi Among Speakers Announced for National Equality March
The National Equality March released a current list of speakers for the rally on the Capitol's West Lawn.
Check out the list, AFTER THE JUMP...
Organizers write:
"Longtime gay activist David Mixner, who in May called for a national march on Washington 'to empower our young and to show the nation that anything less than full freedom is unacceptable,' is among the featured speakers at the October 11th National Equality March (NEM) in Washington, organizers announced today.
More than 30 speakers, representing the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its straight allies, will take the stage at a rally following the march on the west lawn of the Capitol.
Joining Mixner on the stage will be the national co-chairs of the march, Cleve Jones, Lt. Dan Choi, and Nicole-Murray Ramirez. Co-directors of the march, Kip Williams and Robin McGehee, also will be speaking. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, will be one of the featured speakers. Bond was a founder Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and today serves as Board Chairman of the NAACP, the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Bond likens the National Equality March to the Civil Rights March of 1963. 'We had a dream and marched on Washington to demand our rights; I am proud to stand with the LGBT community as they march for theirs,' he said.
St. Olaf college student Richard Aviles will be speaking on behalf of student activists from across the country, who have organized for the march and are descending on Washington. Also speaking will be Judy Shepard, who lost her son Matthew to a murder motivated by anti-gay hate and who founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in his memory. The Foundation is dedicated to working toward the causes championed by Matthew during his life: social justice, diversity awareness and education, and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."
Check out the list, AFTER THE JUMP...
Stuart Applebaum
Richard Aviles
Jarret Barrios
Dustin Lance Black
Julian Bond
Marsha Botzer
Staceyann Chin
Lt. Dan Choi
Tanner Efinger
Hawaii Board of Education Member Kim Coco Iwamoto
Cleve Jones
Michelle Lopez
Robin McGehee
David Mixner
Nicole-Murray Ramirez
Chloe Noble
Tobias Packer
Reverend Troy Perry
New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn
Los Angeles Council Member Bill Rosendahl
Babs Siperstein
Judy Shepard
Maxim Thorn
Urvashi Vaid
Derek Washington
Falls Church City Council Member Lawrence Webb
Kit Yan
Kip Williams
Sherry Wolf
Posted 12:05 PM EST by Andy Towle in National Equality March, News | Permalink
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FYI...The Senate has suspended recess in Oct., during the March, to focus on Healthcare. Wes will be there.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/60893-reid-cancels-recess-to-get-healthcare-done
Posted by: The Realist | Sep 30, 2009 12:43:45 PM
oh fuck. I just bet people are going to be pissed that we are comparing our struggle to the struggle in the 60's regarding racial issues.
Posted by: Kenneth | Sep 30, 2009 12:44:42 PM
That's it? Where are the national political figures, the out-and-proud entertainment figures....you know, people who might DRAW A CROWD?
I've been on the fence about driving up from Atlanta, but I'm now convinced. I'm taking the gas and hotel money and sending it instead to Maine Equality.
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 12:50:35 PM
Just checked the NEM Steering Committee list...apparently if you're on the committee, you're automatically a gifted orator and get to speak. Pathetic.
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 12:52:56 PM
benjamin i dont think most entertainment figures want to be political.
i bet ellen could draw a crowd though.
Posted by: Kenneth | Sep 30, 2009 12:53:15 PM
Kenneth, with all due respect, there are plenty of entertainment figures who have speaking out on LGBT issues. Any speaker list from any recent GLAAD dinner will tell you that. And, yes, you could start with Ellen.
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 12:58:55 PM
Who cares if Neil Patrick Harris or Rupert Everett isn't there? That's your metric of whether this is a 'good' march? My lord.
Posted by: Gregoire | Sep 30, 2009 1:08:09 PM
Dear God, No!
30 speakers x 10 minutes each = 300 minutes or 5 hours of speeches. Have we, as a community, or the march organizers, lost our collective minds? Who is going to listen to 5 hours of speeches, most of them (we know) predictable, repetitive and boring?
Better by far to pick four or five GREAT speakers, get Rufus Wainwright to lead us all in We Shall Overcome and be done with it. There is nothing to be gained by painfully dragging things out.
Posted by: Michael L | Sep 30, 2009 1:09:32 PM
Gregoire, thank you, Neil Patrick Harris is exactly the kind of person I was thinking of. People have all sorts of motivation for coming to a march. Many for the political content, and many (whether we like or not) to hear an out-and-proud actor on a top-rated show talking about how out is not the career killer it used to be. Speakers like NPH would be a draw not only to those on the fence but also to the media, who would publicize it beforehand and afterwards. Please remember that Obama campaigned with Oprah. That seemed to work out well for him, as I recall.
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 1:13:32 PM
I think it fantastic that Julian Bond is speaking and supporting our march for equality. I will be attending and proudly marching as well! It's very easy to complain and bitch and do NOTHING. It's a lot harder to geto ff your ass and stand up and be recognised. It may not change the world, but it is a hell of a lot better than sitting around and ragging on the ones with enough gumption to do more than bitch on comment boards.
Posted by: Wayne | Sep 30, 2009 1:15:16 PM
And I also asked about the lack of national political figures. Where's Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin?
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 1:15:16 PM
Wayne, I am not doing nothing. I'm sending my money to Maine and volunteering for phone banks from now till November. Am I allowed to criticize now?
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 1:18:39 PM
Pathetic list of speakers, no one national, no one a house hold name, no one outside of the gay and lesbian community that would be heard by others. This is really disappointing and embarrassing. I agree with the posts, no national figures means this will be a yawn in the news, for those in the march, and wont' achieve much.
Is it a march or a fest to listen all day? Have 1-5 speakers at most.
Here in Chicago for a march on marriage equality that started at the Center on Halsted, there were over 12 speakers for marriage equality, every organization had to have their leader speak.
Finally, the crowd was tired and pissed, and started the march on their own, even interrupting 5 speakers before with the chant "shut up and let's March!" Al they did was say what the previous person said, ridiculous. IT's not aobut you or being recognized, or even speaking, it's about a collective show of solidarity. I am convinced most of these organizing morons don't know what they're doing and haven't learned from the past.
Posted by: RB | Sep 30, 2009 1:26:41 PM
When the Teabaggers proudly proclaim that their march was larger than ours -- and it will be -- what is your justification going to be "Look I'm sorry, Melissa Etheridge wasn't speaking!"
Posted by: Gregoire | Sep 30, 2009 1:33:31 PM
And when, as RB suggests, the small crowd begins dispersing as one lame speaker follows another lame speaker, is the NEM justification going to be: "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were supposed to be organized."
Posted by: benjamin | Sep 30, 2009 1:39:51 PM
Geez, how sad. Bet C-SPAN doesn't cover the march.
Posted by: Gus | Sep 30, 2009 1:39:51 PM
I heard Dustin Lance Black speak at a Pride Event in NYC let him speak for all it was a great speach and should be heard by all. Where all the big national politicians Barney Frank Tammy Baldwin should be there but so should all the straigth politicans who support equal rights. Time to put up or shut up
Posted by: walter | Sep 30, 2009 1:39:56 PM
@RB
If it's the Prop 8 March in June that you're talking about, remember that the weather was an important factor in the crowd being tired and pissed...lol. It rained cats and dogs that day and it was chilly.
But the speakers were great and there was crazy racial diversity, people even got up and proclaimed their love for Jesus (or the religion of their choice)
And at the Chicago Prop 8 March, the struggle for racial equality in the 60's was raised by someone who participated in both. (That occured at the beginning of that march)
I'll be in Maine on the weekend of this March. The MOW has my full support.
Posted by: Chitown Kev | Sep 30, 2009 1:40:19 PM
Those trying to use Maine as a free pass to criticize others for participating in the National Equality March on Washington are full of it! You don't hear NEM supporters making the argument that it's selfish to only concentrate on one state when the real battle is on the Federal level (even though that argument has merit) instead you see David Mixner the co-chair of the NEM urging Obama to speak out on Maine. We should be supporting each other. This endless jealous sniping is not helping anyone.
Posted by: Wayne | Sep 30, 2009 2:13:24 PM
Sheesh, there's alot of shitheads on Towleroad today.
I donated to Equality Maine AND I'm going to the March On Washington. Conflict resolved.
Posted by: JohnInManhattan | Sep 30, 2009 2:25:57 PM
Speakers are 2 minutes. But, that doesn't matter. I am profoundly amazed at the venom being spewed.
Did I fuck up and make a right turn somewhere?
Oh yeah, let the fucked up comments begin. That's if you have time away from the important work you're doing on behalf of, well, anything.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Sep 30, 2009 5:02:05 PM
@Derek Washington
Congrats on being one of the speakers, by the way. towleroad's very own...
"I am profoundly amazed at the venom being spewed."
lol. A regular at towleroad like you? Amazed at the venom being spewed? Saddened, yes. But this being towleroad, you can never be amazed about venomous comments...lol...well, actually you can but...you know what I mean.
I honestly wish that I could be there simply to put some faces to the names that I see on the various boards that I contribute to. But I have a commitment in Maine so...
By the way, I personally have never played Maine off of the NEM and vice versa. However, I am not a bougie jetset type of gay and I can only do one or the other.
I decided on Maine based on 1) I've never been there. 2) I've lived in DC and I was at the '87 MOW.
Selfish? Well, yeah but I can't sit back and do nothing either. In fact, I am kinda sorta hoping that I see some of you going to the March at, say, the Port Authority, as I'm making may way up to Maine (I decided to take the bus, since I want to see shit!)
Again Derek, Congrats!
Posted by: Chitown Kev | Sep 30, 2009 5:33:30 PM
Ah, Derek.
Good to see that, as you decry the airing of "venomous" anti-March criticisms, you're still glibly accusing all the critics of doing nothing to promote LGBT equality.
No surprise there. March organizers have made it absolutely clear since it was first announced back in early June, that if you dare criticize Cleve's event, then you must be a self-loathing, lazy, apathetic piece of shit.
Posted by: 24play | Sep 30, 2009 5:43:52 PM
I agree with Benjamin, if you are just going to have the 'usual suspects' (ie. gay leaders) speaking, it is going to go on deaf ears to the general public. You need entertainment figures, political figures, civil rights figures, even the President or Vice President (if not live, at least taped). This is a CIVIL RIGHTS issue, one for the 21st Century. Look how many supporters there were from all walks of life in the civil rights marches and rallies of the 1960's. If it is going to be done, it needs to be attention grabbing with notable public figures, not just a brief news story. If everything is just gay speakers and figureheads, it is not going to make the statement of equality, it will be one of desperation.
In the 60's, music also played an important part of the civil rights movement - that is something missing here. There seems to be a lack of activism in the entertainment industry. If everything is just 'gay', it becomes a 'pride' event, not a civil rights movement. You end up preaching to the choir.
As for the "teabaggers march" falsified photo speaks volumes. Copy/paste link below...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/912-tea-party-photo-false_n_286082.html
Posted by: CB | Sep 30, 2009 6:32:59 PM
Why dont everybody just shut the fuck up and start taking care of "yo" "Bidness" (Business).
This is why I rarely long onto gay websites anymore.
They are MESSY.Full of hate and ignorance from the so-called members of the gay community.
While I do support the NEM on washington,I dont think it will help much.
First off there is too much of this damn infighting from GLBT members..no scratch that...There is too much infighting from GAY MEN.This drama queen shit,aint gonna help us and as you can see its taking alot longer for us to achieve equality.
Secondly,your giving the heterosexual bigots exactly what they want.Its called DIVIDE & CONQUER.
So as long as its taking us to achieve equality the infighting and internal hatred from GAY MEN (because thats where most of the internal drama comes from) will only extend the struggle for equality.
I dunno why Im wasting my damn time trying to talk sense into half of y'all.Ignorance truly is the block on our achieving equality,but it aint just coming from the homo hating BIGOTS...Its also coming from YOU! So instead of blaming ONLY the heterosexuals for our troubles,you should also be blaming "YOSELF"
Im tired of this shit
Posted by: Rocky | Sep 30, 2009 6:38:54 PM