October 14, 2009
Last Sunday, October 11, while the majority of Macalester was enjoying a typical weekend, 16 students were in Washington, D.C., marching along with over 200,000 people to demand equal rights for all LGBT people under the 14th amendment.
The march was called by Cleve Jones, a close collaborator of the late Harvey Milk, after he received thousands of letters and messages from mostly young activists who wanted something to be done following Proposition Eight’s loss last November. The intention was to get people from all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts to the capital, in a new effort to make the struggle a national one.
“I am sick and tired of fighting state by state, county by county, city by city, for fractions of equality--for impermanent victories that can be done away with by a popular vote of 50 percent-plus-one, and we're returned to second-class citizenship again,” said Jones in a rally on the lawn of the capital following the march. “Because the most important and significant rights granted to heterosexuals through marriage are determined not by the states, but by the federal government.”
This is a crucial point to be made.
Currently LGBT couples are denied over 1,100 basic rights that are attached to the legality of the word “marriage.” These include things such as: the legal rights to visit a spouse in the hospital; the right to special consideration for the immigration of a spouse when from a foreign country; being eligible to receive a spouse’s healthcare benefits; the right to filing taxes jointly (resulting in significantly higher taxes for LGBT couples); the right to inheritance of property; and many other basic rights that most heterosexual couples take for granted.
Of note Sunday was the prevalence of young people. With an actual rainbow in the sky above them and enough sun to qualify the day as “hot,” a student contingent of hundreds led the march from McPherson Square to the U.S. Capitol, chanting “Hey! Obama! Let Mamma marry Mamma!” and “Get Up! Get Down! There’s a Civil Rights Movement in this Town!”
In addition, according to Time Magazine, the average age of the people behind most of the organizing effort wasn’t above 30.
“You young people really have a hand up on what we’re trying to do here,” said Catharine Marino Thomas of Marriage Equality New York, addressing the packed and overflowing capital lawn.
In a message to students prior to the march, Glenn Omatsu, Professor at California State University, Northridge had expressed a similar sentiment.
"Students around the world have been at the forefront of movements to promote democracy and human rights,” he said. “Student movements have toppled powerful dictatorships and military juntas. Student movements have ended wars. And student activism has often served as the conscience for nations, reminding people in times of turmoil of the founding ideals of their countries and the aspirations of all people for justice, dignity, and equality."
Brett Srader, a Macalester student, was affected by this conscience and took home a sense of motivation from the march, saying that it gave him new knowledge and insight into the LGBT struggle. He said he saw it as a call to action, particularly for those who consider themselves allies.
“It is hard at times to motivate yourself to fight for the causes of others, and unfortunately [before the march] I had fallen into this trap,” said Srader. “[However,] the march stressed the importance of [straight] allies in pushing for change. Speaker after speaker reminded me that my country cannot consider itself the land of the free until all people are truly equal under law in all 50 states.”
Another theme of the rally was that the day was by no means an end in and of itself, but rather a point from which to strategize and grow as a movement.
“[There was the main idea that] during the march, the National Mall belonged to LGBT Americans and the Struggle for Equality, but that we all must continue the fight in our own "backyards" -- geographically, socially, politically, in our workplace, etc.,” said Kevin Schaeffer ’13. “The purpose of the NEM was not just to show the nation that we fight together for equality, but also to show those who feel alone that they are very much NOT alone.”
Srader said he could envision several ways Macalester could bring the fight into its backyard, focusing on the importance of the upcoming vote in Maine that could repeal marriage equality in the same way as Prop 8.
“Phone banks should be set up on campus for Mac students to make calls to voters in Maine to garner support for voting No on 1,” he said. “Or fundraisers could be another possible route, because the Equality movement in Maine is being out fundraised by huge margins.”
Back in Washington, Jones ended his speech by addressing the importance of mass demonstrations, besides just lobbying and letter-writing.
“Protest confirms dignity,” he said. “This march is an act of self-respect—that we will settle for nothing less than full equality under the law. We must take our president’s advice and command the audacity of hope.”
