Lasting Results - Brief Article

Past marches have been the birthplace of gay organizations

When thousands of like-minded individuals descend on the nation's capital, the results can have a lasting impact on the national organizational landscape. Perhaps no group has more successfully harnessed the peculiar political power of a march on Washington than lesbians and gay men. Several major national organizations as well as local groups were born from--or energized by--marches.

The long-term effects of the marches have been felt from the very first one. In 1979 a loose federation of organizations took the opportunity to combine the International Year of the Child with the first gay and lesbian march on Washington. A press conference was held by "parents and friends of lesbians and gays" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. "PFLAG found its voice as a result of the 1979 march," says Kirsten Kingdon, the group's executive director. In the 20 years since, PFLAG has grown to have 435 affiliates, 11,000 chapter members, and a budget of close to $2 million.

By the second march, in 1987, several groups were primed to use the event as a tool to catalyze change. "I think for the first time the community recognized that there was a power out there," says Wesley Combs of Witeck-Combs Communications, a marketing firm. The weekend of the march, gay and lesbian leaders gathered to discuss the status of the movement. The consensus was that more people needed the support systems to come out. Slowly the idea for National Coming Out Day was hammered out. The anniversary of the 1987 march--October 11--was chosen to represent those efforts. "This was a chance to be proactive," says Candace Gingrich, current manager of the National Coming Out Project.

That same desire for visibility was at the heart of the formation of LLEGO, the National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Organization. The 1987 march led to LLEGO's primer encuentro [first gathering]. "The march served as a vehicle," says Martin Ornelas-Quintero, executive director of LLEGO. "It was a medium for us to move forward."

Marches have also served an important economic role in developing groups, emphasizes Dianne Hardy-Garcia, executive director of this year's march. An $80,000 surplus left over after the 1987 march was used as grants for a number of local and state-run organizations, including OutFront Minnesota. Profits from this year's march will be used similarly, with a significant portion of the money going to strengthen people-of-color organizations. This year's march is "a tool," says Hardy-Garcia, to build more organizations. "It's about strengthening the movement for equal rights."

Wildman is a Washington, D.C.-based writer who has contributed to The Washington Post and The New Republic.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Liberation Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group