5 Reasons Why I'll Be At The Gay March in DC on Sunday

I knew that heading to the Gay March in DC this Sunday was the right thing to do. Weeks ago, on autopilot, my partner and I booked the hotel and train, and made plans for dinner in DC - with a straight friend. We made arrangements cause we'd heard about the March and decided without thinking that we should be there.

But my heart really wasn't in it. Too much stuff to do around the house this weekend. Who was going, anyway? (Lots of my gay friends hadn't even heard about the rally.) And who was going to watch Claudia, our 80-lb. rescue Pyrenees?

But then I watched Outrage, the movie about closeted gay Republicans which aired this week on HBO. The movie brilliantly lays out how the effort to demonize gays and to "protect marriage" was a cynical and strategic, if effective, campaign which united disparate elements of the conservative spectrum around hate. Who cares if tax cuts and deregulation meant the rich were getting stratospherically more wealthy while you were standing still or even falling far behind: gays are sickening and must be stopped.

Watching the movie I recalled the word "demagogue," a word I looked up earlier this year because, to be honest, it's one I'd often heard used but did not really know what it meant. Here's Merriam-Webster's definition: "a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power." A perfect description of those loud voices of the conservative Christian movement, neatly funded and amplified, or at best conveniently overlooked, by those more interested in maintaining the country's boardroom oligarchy than in policing bedrooms.

So thanks to Outrage, Im once again outraged. And inspired. And I look forward to the energy and excitement I'm hoping we'll find in Washington this weekend.

To that end, here are my five top reasons for attending the National Equality March of 2009:

1. Because we live in a country where a hospital official sees no problem preventing a woman from seeing her dying partner, informing her that she was in "an anti-gay city in an anti-gay state." Yes, you read the correctly. [Despite the hospital's later acknowledgement that no medical reason existed to prevent visitation, neither Janice Langbehn - who provided the hospital with a medical Power of Attorney document - nor their children were allowed to see their partner/mother Lisa Pond until nearly eight hours after their arrival, after Lisa had slipped into a coma and died. Think it was just the case of a cold-hearted group of hospital officials? Think again: the Florida District Court agreed that the hospital did not have a legal duty to grant visiting rights to a same-sex partner, even when a patient was in the hospital's trauma center.]

2. Because anti-gay violence is everywhere from small town America to the military to NYC.

3. Because New York state, where I live, still doesn't allow gay marriage. (An aside thank you to Mayor Bloomberg for his vocal insistence that "the tide is turning.")

4. Because of the knows-no-bounds hypocrisy of Republicans like Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, who defended her and her partner's right to have a baby as "not a political statement." (As Dan Savage puts it, "you kept your mouth clamped shut while Karl Rove and George Bush ran around the country attacking gay people, gay parents, and our children in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. It's a little late to declare the private choices of gays and lesbians unfit for public debate, Mary.")

5. Because it will be fun.

(Oh what the hell, I'll add a sixth: because I need to remind myself to stop being so complacent.)

Hope to see you there.

 

Comments

[entemplin]

my main reason for going is because i can no longer complain over and over again. i need to ACT. plus, yep...it will be fun. hehe ;-)

[rustywiggs]

So sad not be at the Gay Rights March. Thank you everyone who does show up.

[Feesister]

Everyone should watch HBO's documentary, "Outrage." It's truly eye-opening.

I think the LGBT community might want to give some thought about how to better communicate these kinds of events, and also maybe offer "satellite" opportunities to join in rallies and demonstrations. I usually don't hear about these until after the fact. And I'm a long way from DC, but would still like to show my support.

by the way, I'm a middle age woman with two kids and married to the same guy for over 20 years. And very much want to see LGBT Americans given all the rights the rest of us have. Its so long past time.

[farley1]

Points # 1 and 4 are excellent.

But be sure to have #5.

I wrote something like this before but it didn't get through :(.

[thebigbike]

We donated close to $1000 to No on 8. ands another $1000 to Obama we don't have the money to make a trip from Podunk California to Washington now.

[DCdweller]

As a DC resident who will be at the March this weekend, Thank you for your donations in the past. I will try and be a little louder to compensate for your not being able to be with us this time!

[farley1]

Great points! Especially #'s 1 & 4.

Have fun.

[Mario Ruiz - Huffpost Blogger]

Janice, Id be honored. I first heard your story when you spoke at the Lambda event in nyc in Spring. mario@huff­ingtonpost­.com

[Janice Langbehn]

so how does someone email directly to the author? anyone help me there? I'd like to converse with mario ruiz. thanks for the suggestions

[DenverJim]

I wish my partner and I could attend. Too much debt, not enough money, but maybe there will be a local event here in Denver. Thanks for the article!

[PlaceboStudman]

I hope there will be someone there representing the disabled LGBT community, cause Gimps (yes I call myself a gimp, get over it) are gays are people too!

Just sayin' the disabled community in the LGBT community is under-represented

[DCdweller]

Then start your own organization so you aren't under-represented any longer! To be honest, your comment is the first time I've specifically thought about the LGBT disabled community.... what can others do to help?

[PlaceboStudman]

The best thing people can do for the disabled in the LGBT community, or even the straight disabled community is to start talking about sexuality openly and honestly. We have to get rid of, or at least minimize the impression that the disabled are, or even should be considered sexless eunuchs, as, sadly, many of us still are.

And this is where I have to laugh at The Fundies who believe that homosexuality is all about the actions and behaviors. I *technically* can't even have sex in the boring old missionary position style that The Fundies think we should all have sex in. But, that doesn't change the fact that I am a natural born and bred kinky perve in my mind, just because my body can't keep up LOL

Essentially it is all just a matter of openminded honesty, and letting the disabled person guide or lead you to what he or she can or can not, or what he or she wants or does not want to do, who to love or not love, etc.

The heterosexuality or homosexuality of the person is irrelevant. If they have a working brain and understanding of sexuality and interpersonal intimate relationships, we are sexual beings.

Period

End of story

[RJVegas]

I wish there was a way for gays, family, friends, and supporters around the country (who are unable to make it to the march) to show their support. Sure it's great if you can be there and be visible, but there are so many of us across this great country that fit in to the category "out of sight, out of mind." Enjoy the march for the rest of us!