 "Photo: N/A")
For the 103 members of the Vassar community who attended the National Equality March on Sunday, Oct. 11, the day began at 2:45 in the morning. According to Equality Across America, the organization running the event, the march was intended to demand “equal protection for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people in all matters governed by civil law. Now.” For Vassar students, participation in the March meant a six-hour bus trip to Washington, D.C. and back, all in the span of 22 hours. “It was quite a day,” said Leah Varsano ’10.
The Vassar students and community members who attended the event were among the estimated 200,000 people who showed their support marching for LGBTQ rights, and for many, the experience was deeply personal. “My moms are gay, but I’m more into this than my mothers are,” said freshman Amanda Friedrich, “They’re like, ‘go on honey, have fun.’” Varsano added, “I do feel that this is a defining movement for our time. I want to be able to tell my grandkids that I marched for gay rights.”
The March followed a route that took protestors down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House to end on the National Mall in front of the Capitol for a rally. There was an air of excitement and camaraderie at the March with participants holding up signs that ranged in tone from serious—“Slavery was tradition, too”—to humorous—“Gay marriage causes global warming because we’re soooo hot.” In homage to Beyonce’s song “Single Ladies,” one sign even read, “We like it, and we wanna put a ring on it.” The March was supposed to kick off at 11 a.m., but ended up running a little behind schedule, adding to the excitement and impatience of the crowd. “I’m ready to do this!” said Michelle Donnelly ’11.
Donnelly is the secretary of ACT OUT, an LGBTQ advocacy organization at Vassar that put the National Equality March at the top of its agenda this year. Donnelly, along with ACT OUT’s executive board and co-Presidents Leslie Hamilton ’10 and Casey Katims ’10, helped plan Vassar’s contribution to the March.
“We would have been happy with 30 people,” said Hamilton, who was surprised by the unexpected turnout and enthusiasm from Vassar students and administrators. But the road to Washington, D.C. wasn’t bump free for ACT OUT. When Hamilton and Katims realized turnout would be closer to 100, they realized “we’re going to be working twice as hard,” said Katims.
Hamilton and Katims began planning participation in the March last June when Equality Across America announced the possibility of a march in October. The two exchanged daily e-mails, realizing that a successful march was going to require lots of planning over the summer. When the school year began, it was time to start fundraising. Despite efforts on their own—including a bake sale offering “gayke”—ACT OUT needed the financial support of the Vassar Student Association (VSA). So the ACT OUT executive board attended a VSA council meeting to make their case. “It’s politically active, and it’s socially conscious. This is exactly the type of event you should be funding,” said Katims. It worked.
Both Hamilton and Katims declared Vassar’s participation in the March a success, and were grateful to the VSA for it’s support. The pair was “amazed” by the amount of work the ACT OUT executive board put into the planning process so Vassar students and community members could attend. ACT OUT was also thankful to VSA organizations and campus houses that contributed funds and provided support.
“Everyone has worked harder than I’ve ever seen them work before. It really was a collective effort. All hands on deck,” said Katims. He added with a tired smile, “It was a beautiful, beautiful effort.”
As with any march, there were risks associated with the National Equality March. March organizers had expected counter-protestors, particularly from the Westboro Baptist Church, a religious group that has now become famous for its conservative anti-gay positions. Yet ACT OUT encountered no counter-protestors during the march, though Katims and Hamilton were unable to pinpoint why exactly. “It’s hard to imagine they just took the day off,” said Katims.
But the march did raise questions about the relationship between religion—particularly some groups within the Christian church—and the LGBTQ rights movement. In addition to the 100-plus Vassar students in attendance, the Reverend Jennifer Barrows, affiliate Advisor to the Episcopal Church of Vassar College (ECVC), joined Vassar’s group. During the March, Barrows carried a sign that read, “End the Harm From Religion-based Bigotry and Prejudice.” The sign was provided by Faith in America, a multi-denominational Christian organization that rejects faith-based discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.
“I was stopped five times by gay couples to get my picture taken,” said Reverend Barrows, pointing to her clerical collar, “It was wonderful. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to do this.” Reverend Barrows shed light on some of the tensions gay rights has provoked in religious communities across the United States: “[There’s a] cavern between Christian Faith and what Jesus says.” Barrows had a strong condemnation for the way some practitioners of the Christian faith have created “layers and layers of mistrust, hurt, animosity and—what’s worse—indifference” toward LGBTQ individuals.
But Barrows was quick to point out that there is by no means a unified voice on LGBTQ rights among Christian denominations. “We’re losing whole diocese over this issue” she said, referring to Episcopal parishes that have withdrawn their support for the denomination because of the consecration of gay bishops.
Divides exist within the LGBTQ rights movement as well. Katims is currently writing his senior thesis on “divisions that exist within the LGBTQ movement in the United States” but does feel that “the movement is changing” and becoming more inclusive of LGBTQ people of various races, classes and genders.
Hamilton agreed that the movement is gaining momentum. “There are a lot of reasons it’s taken this long,” she said. “One thing that comes to mind is that you can hide your gender or sexual orientation in a way that is different from hiding your race. People are now saying, ‘I’m done hiding,’ and it took a long time for that to be an option. Some say the movement is finally ‘coming out of the closet,’ and I think I agree with that.”
Katims spent the second semester of his junior year in Washington, D.C. interning at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an organization that lobbies the federal government for LGBTQ equality. He also spent time over the summer as an intern at the U.S. House of Representatives. He said the two opportunities gave him experience working both within the government and from outside. He couldn’t say which he preferred: “It’s a debate I have with myself,” he said.
But Katims does believe the LGBTQ rights movement needs openly gay men and women to work both outside and within the U.S. lawmaking body. He added, “Progress will never be achieved unless there are also people pushing from the outside.”
Katims’ experience at HRC involved lobbying much more than marching, but Katims and ACT OUT still see a place for direct action—such as marching—in the LGBTQ movement. “Marches energize people,” said Hamilton. Katims said he does not see marching as an outdated form of activism at all, remarking, “When you have 100,000 bodies in a single location, that’s something that can’t be replicated by Facebook or Twitter, or even a lobby action.”
This spirit of physical action is even present in ACT OUT’s name. Said Hamilton, “An action is something you do one day as part of something within a larger narrative of working toward a goal, which for ACT OUT is gay rights.” Hamilton added, “You protest against something. You act for something.”
“Marches are a form of protest people are used to seeing associated with
civil rights,” said Hamilton, drawing a parallel between the LGBTQ rights movement to the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Among the differences Katims noted, however, is that “the LGBTQ rights movement is led by organizations instead of people.”
Their nonviolent ties to the movement of the ’60s became evident at the rally when Katims received a text message from the organizers alerting him to the potential for violent anti-march action along the route.
He responded with unwavering stoicism: “We are nonviolent. We don’t fight back.” Despite bumps in the road, the outlooks on the future of the LGBTQ movement were overwhelmingly positive.
Said Varsano, “I think [equality for LGBTQ couples] is inevitable. I really do. It’s a matter of how long and how much hardship. But it will happen.” Hamilton agreed and pushed for more action, stating, “It’s time to be open about the fact that all Americans aren’t equal.”
Be the first to comment on this article!