Last Saturday evening, my partner and I drove down to the Washington, DC area so that we could participate in the March for Equality. We stayed at a hotel in Montgomery Country and took the Metro in to downtown. We got to Farragut Park at about 11:15 AM.
Back in 2000, the year of the Millennium March, we got there too late to do the actual march, but enjoyed ourselves at the rally that followed. (That was the first time I had participated in an LGBT political event of any kind, the first of its kind since I had come out.) But this time, we actually marched the full length of the march route.
Below the fold are an account of the march and a few of my photos.
When we arrived at Farragut Park, various groups were gathering and organizing. We went to an fast food establishment to get some lunch and use the restroom. The line for the rest room was long enough that by the time we got out, most of the people were gone. Fortunately, some people carrying an HRC banner passed by, and we just followed them to where the march was to start. They led us to the intersection of Vermont and I Streets. There was a lot of closely packed humanity there! And some interesting t-shirts and signs:
I saw a remarkable protest flag at this point, but was unable to get a good photo of it: It was the U. S. flag with only six stars in its blue field--the six states that have legalized same-sex marriage. Of course, one of those stars is Maine, in which marriage equality is being threatened by Question 1. Go do what you can to help defend equal marriage rights in Maine (if you haven't already) by clicking here.
We stood at this intersection for about a half hour before there was any movement. Finally, at about 20 after noon, the march started moving, and we began to walk down Vermont St. We took a right when we got to Lafayette Park, and then snaked around to the front of the White House.
As we were passing the White House, the popular chant was:
Obama! Obama!
Let Mama marry Mama!
After passing the White House and rounding the Treasury Building, we got to Pennsylvania Avenue, seeing our destination in the distance: the Capitol.
This bi-racial couple stood by the side of the road offering support:
We're getting closer to the Capitol:
This photo is not quite in focus, but I thought it was great that there was someone out selling pink feather boas:
We were about to pass the Newseum here. You can see people on the balcony near the top of the building (on the left) waving to the marchers. The variety of signs carried by people never ceased to surprise.
By the way, at the outset, I was sure we were going to encounter some conservative Christians somewhere along the way--Fred Phelps and his ilk--but if they were out there, I didn't see them.
At some point I got the bright idea of taking a photo facing backward, so as to capture the faces of some of the marchers. As you can see, it was a pretty diverse crowd.
Finally, we got to the west end of the Capitol, where the Washington Gay Men's Chorus was performing. There was a guy holding up this sign, which I thought was kinda funny:
Completely at random, we managed to connect with a group of students from the university where I teach who came down for the entire weekend, so that was nice. Also, as we were passing the gate where the celebrities were entering in order to get to the stage, we passed within touching distance of lesbian stand-up comic Kate Clinton, just before she passed that gate! Being the shy guy I am, I did not do any obviously visible celebrity worship, but trying to silently clue in my oblivious partner to in who's presence we were in at the moment, without attracting undue attention, was pretty funny.
Once the marchers had reached the Capitol, it became clear that the crowd was not as large as it had been at the Millennium March, where it spilled over several blocks on the Mall. The crowd Sunday didn't even reach the Mall.
Maybe we were bad activists, but we didn't stay for the rally. Instead, we wandered over to the Botanical Garden, whose conservatory had always been closed for renovation every time I visited DC over the past 20 years (or so it seemed). So we had a fun time looking at tropicals, orchids, medicinal plants, etc, for a while. Then, because we had a long journey home, we started walking to a nearby Metro station. The final shots of I got of the crowd are here:
Finally, at the edge of the lawn where the reflecting pool is, there was a troupe of performance artists performing...something. Here's a shot of that. (If this photo is inappropriate, please let me know and I'll remove it.)
Well, that was pretty much our day. I still managed to get a fair amount of work done on the trip while my partner was driving. (I was worried I would fall seriously behind in my work.)
Hope you enjoy the photos!