It’s not even been a year since the National Equality March drew tens of thousands of people to Washington in an impassioned call for full LGBT participation in American life. But, it’s time to return to the capital.
On October 2, one of the broadest, most-inclusive progressive coalitions ever assembled — operating under the title One Nation Working Together — is headed to the Lincoln Memorial for an afternoon rally in support of “jobs, justice, and education.” Those participating include civil rights organizations, labor unions, and advocates for health care, public education, immigration reform, the environment, a woman’s right to choose and gender equality generally, families and youth, and LGBT rights.
After negotiations that interwove the concerns of all these communities and interest groups, the march’s organizers produced a platform that embraces full equality for LGBT Americans — in terms of opportunity, nondiscrimination protections, and family recogniton. Given the chance that this march offers to send a message not only to the nation, but also to the tens or hundreds of thousands of non-LGBT participants who will be in Washington October 2, our community ought to be on the bus that day.
Pollsters are talking a lot this season about the enthusiasm gap between progressive and conservative voters, with the latter angry and fired up, but the former merely dispirited. We have to turn that discouragement into determination. The effort to mobilize progressive voters for November 2 could get a needed shot in the arm on October 2. And whenever progressive goals are articulated, championed, and cheered in this country, our community cannot afford the luxury of being AWOL.
http://chelseanow.com/articles/2010/09/15/gay_city_news/perspectives/doc4c91220e6b463767665279.txtOne Nation Heads to Washington
Huge progressive rally planned at Lincoln Memorial on October 2
In what looks to be the largest gathering of progressive activists in Washington in recent memory, major civil rights groups, such as the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, and leading labor unions, including the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, are planning to converge on the capital on October 2 in a rally for “jobs, justice, and education” under the rubric of One Nation Working Together.
And according to leading gay organizers involved in the effort, the explicit incorporation of LGBT-inclusive language in the event’s “core policy principles” — with specific reference to equality of opportunity and nondiscrimination protection, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, and to the need for “respecting all families” — represents “an historic opportunity,” in the words of Jeff Campagna, who heads up the LGBTQ effort in the march’s New York office.
Noting the prominent role played by civil rights groups and labor unions with large African-American and Latino memberships, Stuart Appelbaum, the out gay president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said, “This is a first of its kind — a march primarily of straight people of color embracing LGBTQ goals.”
http://gaycitynews.com/articles/2010/09/15/gay_city_news/news/doc4c911ea490554576720416.txt
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