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TheSecond National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a largepolitical rally that took place inWashington, D.C., on October 11, 1987.[1][2] Around 750,000 people participated.[3] Its success, size, scope, and historical importance have led to it being called, "The Great March".[4] It marked the first national coverage ofACT UP, with AIDS activists prominent in the main march, as well as making headlines the next day during masscivil disobedience actions at theUnited States Supreme Court Building.[5]
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The desire for a national march in the LGB community (at the time the LGB community did not recognize the transgender community or their rights) was prompted by two major events in the 1980s: theAIDS pandemic, theRonald Reagan administration's lack of acknowledgment of the AIDS crisis; and theSupreme Court of the United States ruling inBowers v. Hardwick upholding the criminalization of sodomy between two consenting men in the privacy of a home.[4] In 1986, Steve Ault and Joyce Hunter, co-coordinators of the 1979National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, drafted documents to extant lesbian and gay 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.[4] Representatives from all known lesbian and gay 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:
The conference was held under the slogan "For love and for life, we're not going back!"[6]
Throughout the planning weekend, delegates debated many aspects of the march itself, including the needs of more marginalized members of the community – lesbian and gay people of color, those living in poverty and with disabilities.[4]
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.[4]
The final organizational meeting for the march took place inAtlanta 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.
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.[4] The seven primary demands were:
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The march was part of six days of activities, with a mass wedding and protest in front of theInternal Revenue Service on October 10, and, three days later, a civil disobedience act in front of theSupreme Court building protesting its rulings upholdingBowers v. Hardwick.[5] The march, demonstration and rally also included the first public display of Cleve Jones'sNAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.[8]
The march itself was led byCesar Chavez,Eleanor Smeal,Jesse Jackson,Whoopi Goldberg and several other celebrities, who were followed by people with AIDS and their supporters, a number of whom were in wheelchairs. Members ofACT UP brought their brand of theatrical and photogenic direct action to the march, and were featured prominently in the media of the event.[5]
Speakers at the rally included, among others:
The march marked increased visibility for bisexuals. A bisexual contingent of about 75 (co-organized by artist Liz Nania)[13] marched, and then held the first nationwide bisexual gathering, which led to the eventual 1990 founding of theNorth American Bisexual Network.Lani Kaʻahumanu's article "The Bisexual Movement: Are We Visible Yet?", was also included in the Civil Disobedience Handbook for the Supreme Court action.[14]
The 200,000 person estimate, widely quoted fromThe New York Times,[1] was made several hours before the march actually began; similarly, most of the pictures the mainstream media used were taken early in the morning, or of the AIDS Quilt viewing area rather than of the much larger march itself. Police on the scene estimated numbers during the actual march to be closer to 750,000.[15][16]
The event was supported and endorsed from its early stages by such nationalLGBT organizations as theNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force.[4]
Faygele Ben-Miriam attended the March on Washington, who in September 1971 applied for a marriage license with his partnerPaul Barwick in Seattle Washington. They later filed the suitSinger vs Hara, which ended in 1974 with a unanimous rejection by the Washington State Court of Appeals.
Energized by the sense of community, moved by theAIDS Quilt, and inspired by the activists fromACT UP New York, many participants returned home and started their own chapters of ACT UP or similar lesbian and gay rights organizations.[5]
A year later, in commemoration of the march, and to continue the momentum, the firstNational Coming Out Day was established.
