Nathaniel Frank, an openly gay researcher and author and one of the leading voices against the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, speaks to the soggy crowd at last weekend’s National Equality Rally at Independence Hall. Despite the driving rain, several hundred people assembled May 3 in front of Independence Hall carrying rainbow signs and even some rainbow umbrellas for the event — billed as the first national LGBT rally since 2000 and the first ever held outside of Washington, D.C. The rally, organized as the capstone of Equality Forum’s week of events and held at the site of the Reminder Day LGBT demonstrations in the 1960s, featured speeches by Frank Kameny, one of the original gay pioneers who helped organize the rallies 40 years ago; openly gay Harrisburg City Councilman Dan Miller; and Mazzoni Center executive director Nurit Shein. Photo: Scott Drake