In Philadelphia, there’s the Indigo Ball on Friday, Blue Ball all weekend and OutFest on Sunday to mark National Coming Out Day, as well as numerous parties surrounding the annual street festival and block party.
In Washington, D.C., the National March for Equality also takes place on Sunday.
In Philadelphia, the community has been divided over whether to support OutFest or the national march.
Some argue that OutFest is “just” a block party, a time for folks to eat, drink and shop, with perhaps a bit of activism thrown in by signing a petition or two, or maybe getting an HIV test.
Others argue the same about the national march: It’s a time for drinking and partying, that Congress isn’t in session that day anyway. Critics say it was planned under too short of notice and poorly organized.
But what’s really at stake for Pennsylvanians, and for Philadelphians?
The national march is slated as a national call to grassroots action.
Its mission statement is: “Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. We will accept no less and will work until it is achieved. Equality Across America exists to support grassroots organizing in all 435 Congressional Districts to achieve full equality.”
Organizers want to push for federal-level equality in military service, marriage, workplace protections, healthcare, hate-crimes protections and immigration.
However, only two of these issues — immigration and military service — are solely handled at the federal level. The others could be — and are — governed at the state level, with some overlap at the federal level.
That’s not to say there are no pending bills in Congress that would address disparities; legislation has been introduced that would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act, bar hate crimes, bullying and discrimination based on sexual orientation and provide for immigration equality.
But consider this: Of the four LGBT marches on Washington to date — 1979, 1987, 1993 and 2000 — none has resulted in concrete federal-level results. Sure, there have been small victories, and certainly increased visibility. But also backlash. Congress passed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” after the 1993 march; the Defense of Marriage Act followed three years later.
In Pennsylvania, the most critical legislation for the LGBT community is statewide employment protections, followed by hate-crimes protections. While marriage equality is a concern, realistically it’s a long way off.
So what’s a Philadelphian to do? Pick one and go. Go and be seen. Go and be heard. Go and sign a petition. Go and shake the hand of a legislator and tell him or her that you, personally, need employment protections and that he or she needs to vote for it. Particularly if he or she wants your vote.
You could go to that and be back in time for OutFest!
“The weekend is about achieving full equality for LGBT Americans. We need to use that political power to remind the country that the AIDS epidemic continues. A great many young people will attend the march; we need them to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS,” said Cleve Jones, the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and one of the National Equality March organizers.
Following Sunday could have served just as well and would not pose the conflict of loyalties we and other cities may have with that particular date. Especially since the date for this year's DC March was chosen so recently with no apparent consideration for established celebrations of National Coming Out Day.
NCOD has now become a local tradition - as it was meant to be - which can take a full year of planning. Some of these annual celebrations are largely the raison d' etre for a number of worthy local organizations like Philly Pride Presents, which may totally support a National March on any other date.
National Coming Out Day, which OutFest celebrates, was originally established in 1989 to commemorate the 1988 March on Washington. The purpose was to continue the work and spread the word about what happened in DC in 1988.
Maybe this is a bigger issue to us in Philadelphia than those in other cities because we have ALWAYS hosted the largest annual NCOD event right from the start. I know this because I was the one who started the tradition in '89 with the first NCOD block party which, for that time drew a huge crowd to the 1100 block of Pine Street. Of course, Of course OutFest has grown to massive proportions over the passing years and is now one of the many revered traditions that give Philadelphia its identity.
I am sure there will be a sizable crowd in Washington next week. But ever since I heard about it, I have had to question if this march can actually happen on such relatively short notice. In my experience the planning for such an ambitious undertaking for any cause requires many months time unless there is a tangible and imminent threat - like the mobilization that happened soon after Three Mile Island. Less than two months ago I asked a room full of people gathered at the William Way Center how many people had even heard that a National LGBT March was being planned for DC in October. That only a scant few hands went up confirmed for me then that the usually due diligence for this had not been done. I just hope the numbers of folks who show up do not just pale in comparison to the recent right wing tea bagger crowds that were apparently bussed in by well-funded astroturf (as opposed to grass roots) groups including the Fox News organization.
The primary force behind the march, Cleve Jones, is a wonderful human being and may just have the magical power to pull this off single-handedly. I wish the best of luck to him and everyone who attends the March. The same to Philly Pride and all those who will be attending NCOD events throughout the country.
Yes, Outfest is going on to, but a letter of support would show some class.
It is not about people's loyalties at all. It is about supporting a cause and a groups civil rights - whether they lie on a state or national level is immaterial. People can support either and feel good, but to compare Outfest to the National Equality March is offensive to those supporting and trying to change gay civil rights while striving for the equality we deserve.
This is the worst editorial ever!