My friends are home after the March....

They had a couple of interesting points to make that I thought I'd share...

We headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit before heading out to meet friends for dinner and to do a bit of protesting at the HRC fundraiser where President Obama was delivering the keynote speech.

Our hotel was across the street from the dinner venue and all of a sudden, we started hearing chanting and noise and all sorts of stuff. It wasn’t even 6pm, yet, but it seemed the protest had started. We ran out the door and headed up the street.

There were scores of people with rainbow flags, homemade signs and banners in front of the convention center. We joined right in.

We were there for a couple of hours watching the Evening-Attired-Cocktail-Circuit-Boys worm their way in. Not a glance in our direction. We didn’t exist. They were the “A” list – we weren’t on any list.

They applauded like mad when the president said he would end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Somehow, they missed the part where he didn’t say when. Or didn’t care that the president never uttered the word “marriage” during his entire speech.

More platitudes. More talk. No action. They grovelled and fawned, and loved every minute of it. The real people, the people who are suffering from the inaction, inequity, and inequality, were outside. Still not invited to the table.

And a bit later...

We sat on the lawn and in the shade, listening to speaker after speaker tell their stories. Cynthia Nixon spoke. Kate Clinton (who we saw a couple of years ago) spoke. Famous people, not famous people.

The New York cast of Hair closed their Sunday show to be there and perform. (I first saw Hair in 1968!) It was great.

But for all of the wonderful people who were there, I kept wondering about all of the people who WEREN’T there…

Where was Melissa Etheridge? She could support Rick Warren speaking at the inauguration but not support Dan Choi being kicked out of the military under DADT?

Where was Ellen? Where was Doogie Howser? Chastity Bono?

Where were the stars who make their living from their gay audiences?

Speaker after speaker talked to us about building bridges, but where were the people we’re supposed to build those bridges to?

Start getting whip counts
Specifically who's in and who's not.

Find out the committees that will get the bill.
Get whip counts on the committees

Push the Congress.

Obama gave you a torch and a book of matches ... light it up!

>>>>We sat on the lawn and in the shade, listening to speaker after speaker tell their stories. Cynthia Nixon spoke. Kate Clinton (who we saw a couple of years ago) spoke. Famous people, not famous people.
The New York cast of Hair closed their Sunday show to be there and perform. (I first saw Hair in 1968!) It was great.
But for all of the wonderful people who were there, I kept wondering about all of the people who WEREN’T there…
Where was Melissa Etheridge? She could support Rick Warren speaking at the inauguration but not support Dan Choi being kicked out of the military under DADT?
Where was Ellen? Where was Doogie Howser? Chastity Bono?
Where were the stars who make their living from their gay audiences?
Speaker after speaker talked to us about building bridges, but where were the people we’re supposed to build those bridges to?>>>>>

My guess is that the organizers made a conscious decision to limit speaking roles to "real" people, eg. Choi, the campus activists, etc. and go very light on the celebrity side.... which is fine by me. By his time everybody in the world knows that a lot of pop culture celebrities are gay and to reiterate this gets a little redundant... not to mention a little stale.

Not sure why NO members of congress spoke. That's a little peculiar. It stretches credulity to think that some were asked to speak and no one accepted; pols just don't pass up chances like that. So I assume that was also a decision made by the organizers.

Other observations:

People actually listened to the speeches. In '93, and 2000 there were more people there but there was much less political focus. The march was smaller... the crowd estimate by the organizers seemed about right ( 150,000)... but it was a no-nonsense, much more intense group than I have seen previously on the mall. It was NOT a gay pride parade... nor a parade of any kind.

That said: the speakers were hard to distinguish one from the next. Might be a good idea next time to include people from academia and what's left from the world of ... ahem... journalism. Breaks up the rant-like monotone ( i.e. and makes the first-person accts easier to distinguish, to listen to and to absorb). A touch of comedy and music ( related , of course) interspersed would help here also... but JUST a touch.

Absence of religious screwie-louies is probably a mark of evolutionary progress but it deprives a much needed foil for these types of events... especially on a Sunday when the crowds ( the population that is physically present to view the march. ) are so thin. (BTW... how bout Saturday next time?) I saw only poor Randall Terry ( "The enlightenment was the greatest tragedy in history because it separated man from god.") all by his lonesome screaming incoherently into an underpowered megaphone somewhere up near I Street. Perhaps a better foil would be "sympathetic" liberals ( "Yeah sure, but all that takes a long time"), apolitical tourists and congress members and staffers... the vast majority of whom seem to beat a hasty retreat out of town or indoors whenever a GLBT Rights rally is scheduled for the mall.

Those are some problems. All in all it was a FANTASTIC march and rally.

Finally... and I thank the gods... I'd say the marchers were about 70% in their twenties and thirties. Seems as though the torch has finally been passed. Not a moment too soon, if you ask me.

Final observation: I like Washington. I intend to move there when I retire. Or die. Whichever comes first.

to show up at the gala is not the same as the 'A List'. Anyone with a few bucks can attend that event. That does not make an A list. The actual A List, as you noted, was absent. They are not lending their faces to the HRC for a reason. And the list of 'not in the house' famous gay people is long indeed. Believe me, Joe and Co notice that. Lots of big checks stayed home.

at the last GOP convention. A few probably thought Obama was the waiter.