Sunday, October 11, 2009

National Equality March Photos and News Coverage Round Up #NEM





This post will continue to be updated.

Thanks again to the amazing Marta Evry of Venice for Change for the beautiful pictures (more will be added in topmost stream tomorrow).

See the official National Equality March photostream and videos of the inspirational speeches!

The amazing reporter Rex Wockner has great firsthand videos, photos and story.

CNN
The National Equality March coincided with National Coming Out Day, and came a day after President Obama delivered a supportive speech to the nation's largest gay and lesbian rights group.

Obama was praised for his remarks to the Human Rights Campaign, where he said he has urged congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and to pass the Domestic Partners Benefit and Obligations Act. But Obama has also been criticized by gay rights activists who say he has put those issues -- and the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans homosexuals from openly serving in the military -- on the back burner.
Time Magazine
The march on Washington that gays staged Sunday on the National Mall drew something like 200,000 people — that's a good guess based on conversations with many of the organizers and local authorities, although estimates of Mall crowds are notoriously unreliable. But one number you can take to the bank: the average age of those backstage who wore walkie-talkie headsets and staff badges, the men (and a few women) who were behind much of the organizing effort, wasn't over 30. And that, by far, was the oddest thing about the march: Why would a generation wired to their mobile phones and Facebook accounts nearly from birth want to resurrect a form of political expression as old and musty as a mass gathering?
USA Today
Thousands of gay and lesbian activists marched on Washington Sunday, the first step in a national effort to grant gays and lesbians equal rights on everything from marriage to serving in the military.

Participants took to the streets, demanding that President Obama keep his campaign promises and pass federal protections for gays and lesbians.

A day after President Obama pledged to stand alongside the gay community in its fight for equal rights, march participants said they want more action and less rhetoric from the president.
New York Times
Impatient and discouraged by what they see as a certain detachment by President Obama on their issues, gay rights supporters took to the streets of the capital on Sunday in the largest demonstration for gay rights here in nearly a decade.

Unlike previous marches promoting gay civil rights, the rally was primarily the undertaking of a new generation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocates who have grown disillusioned with the movement’s established leadership.
CBS News and ABC News Sourcing the AP
Thousands of gay and lesbian activists marched Sunday from the White House to the Capitol, demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays to serve openly in the military and work to end discrimination against gays.

Rainbow flags and homemade signs dotted the crowds filling Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House as people chanted "Hey, Obama, let mama marry mama," and "We're out, we're proud, we won't back down." Many children were also among the protesters. A few counter-protesters also joined the crowd, which stretched several blocks by the afternoon.
The Advocate is backstage!
Crowding nearly every corner of the streets between Washington D.C.'s Dupont Circle and the Capitol Building, some 200,000 people gathered for the National Equality March... and on the heels of mixed reviews for Barack Obama's speech at last night's HRC Dinner, gays and lesbians are our in force, chanting, cheering and demanding equal rights.

Advocate.com went backstage at the rally. From Lady Gaga to Cynthia Nixon, David Mixner to Billie Myers, check out what happened behind the scenes at the biggest show Washington's seen in years.
Talk Radio News



MSNBC



Towleroad interviewing Lady Gaga and Robin McGehee:





Bilerico Project
interviews Lt. Dan Choi



Michael Petrelis plays the numbers game with experienced crowd estimators.

4 comments:

  1. So disappointing that after all ALL the hard work and partition by the Bisexual Community including: (1)the March itself clearly stating that it was for Equal Protection for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people;
    (2) Several Contingents with Banners (BiNet USA, New York Area Bisexual Network, DC Bi Women) and several without DC Bi Men, Bialogue, and more;
    (3) Five "out & proud" self-identified Bisexual Scheduled Speakers and Entertainers including Penelope Williams, Chloe Noble, Michael Huffington, Lady Gaga and Billie Myers. . . that the MAJORITY of the Media Coverage refer to Gay or Gay and Lesbian or even a few Gay, Lesbian & Transgender people.

    Somehow once again Bisexual people have mysteriously vanished!

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  2. I noticed that, too. I think in the minds of some of the mainstream media, saying gay and lesbian somehow encompasses bisexuals - but we all know that it doesn't.

    Yet I do believe CNN does a better job of educating itself and understanding what LGBT actually means and passes that on to its viewers. I think having quite a few gay, lesbian and bisexuals on their staff helps, too.

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  3. I think in the minds of some of the mainstream media, saying gay and lesbian somehow encompasses bisexuals.

    Remarkably kind of you to say so but, No. It is actually a problem so prevalent it has a name and scholarly articles even. It's something called Bisexual Erasure: the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of bisexuality in historical records, academic materials, the news media, and other primary sources. In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include denying that bisexuality exists."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexual_erasure

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  4. About gay rights ..... i don't think so.

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