1979 March on Washington photos

[Rick336]

Here are some photos of the first national March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on October 14, 1979.


It was a beautiful October day in 1979 when 100,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and their supporters took to the streets in the largest protest march since the anti-war demonstrations of the Sixties.


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Marching down Pennsylvania Avenue


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100,000 rally at the Washington Monument, October 14, 1979


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Delegation from Virginia


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Rally at Washington Monument


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Out of the closet and into the street!


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Marching in the the streets of Washington, DC October 14, 1979


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100,000 for equality in '79


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Minnesota delegation


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Delegation from Charlotte, North Carolina


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October 14th, 1979


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Two guys from San Francisco on the Washington mall Oct. 14, 1979


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Some in delegation from New Mexico posing for photos


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Marching for equality in 1979

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Rally speaker platform

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A few from the Minnesota delegation in '79


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Jerry from Minneapolis holds up a sign directing people to the Midwest section, Oct. 14, 1979


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Banner NC Lesbians




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Rick at rally at Washington Monument during 1979 March on Washington
for Lesbian and Gay Rights Oct. 14, 1979

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Rick and John at the 1979 March on Washington.




"OUT OF THE CLOSET AND INTO THE STREET!"

- Chant at 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights


"Well, look at us. You know us America. We are some of your best friends. We are some of your best relatives, your sisters, your brothers, your mothers, your fathers, your daughters, and your sons."

- Part of a speech by speaker at rally for March on Washington Oct. 14, 1979


"HEY HEY! HO HO! ANITA BRYANT HAS GOT TO GO!"

- Chant during 1979 March on Washington


"They’ve got to understand something! We are not talking about crotch politics! This is NOT a movement from the waist down. We’re talking about our right to love and to choose and to live! And I don’t care about straight tolerance! And I don’t care about straight understanding! You better hear me in Washington. We are demanding…..we are DEMANDING…. OUR CIVIL RIGHTS!!"

- part of a speech given by lesbian activist Robin Tyler during the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights


"I believe that Harvey Milk went to the mountaintop and.....looked down on Wichita, looked down on Kansas City, looked down on Dade County, looked down on Oklahoma, looked down on Texas, looked down on the Supreme Court and Congress. And I believe that Harvey Milk knew that one day gay people would live as free and equal citizens in this country. And I believe it is our responsibility to come out of the wilderness and go to the promise land of dignity, pride, and respect."

- Part of a speech at the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights


"We are everywhere! We will be free!"

- chant at 1979 March on Washington


Rick

[Sherrie Z]

Thanks, Rick!

How fun to see all these great photos from 1979! Yay!!! : )

Hugs,

Sherrie

[Zerbie]

These are amazing!!!!! Way to go, Rick!! (You're one heckuva cutie, too.:D)

Man - I wish I could have been there.

[Rick336]

(You're one heckuva cutie, too.)

Thanks Zerbie :)

I had forgotten how tight we wore our levis back in the 70s until I saw these photos.

When the sun began to set and the march was over, me and John headed for the subway to take us back to Dupont Circle where our hotel was. The subway was packed end to end with very excited LGBT people. Everywhere you looked there were LGBT people.

Even on the subway our spirits were still running high. So we chanted "Out of the closet and into the streets!" Then somebody changed it to "...under the streets."

Rick

[Zerbie]

Thanks Zerbie :)

I had forgotten how tight we wore our levis back in the 70s until I saw these photos.

:p:D:love: :lol:
Ah, the difference between boys and girls. :p Until you wrote that, I had been looking at your *face,* Rick, darlin'. :p :love::lol::lol:



When the sun began to set and the march was over, me and John headed for the subway to take us back to Dupont Circle where our hotel was. The subway was packed end to end with very excited LGBT people. Everywhere you looked there were LGBT people.

Rick

Oh how wonderful! I think I can imagine, sort of. . . a little. By the time I was old enough to get out on my own and participate in stuff it was mid-late 90s. My first ever Pride Parade was the one in NYC in the late 90s. I went with about a dozen other 20 year olds, and for all (or nearly all) of us it was our first ever Pride event. We could not believe our eyes. We cheered, jumped around, hugged, and cried all day. Finally, one 20 y/o guy voiced aloud what we all were thinking as we wandered the Village pre-Parade:

"Oh! My! God!!! :'(:rainbow: I never knew there were so many of us. :eek: :D Everybody's Gay!!!:'(:):'(:):love::rainbow:"

[Rick336]

Ah, the difference between boys and girls. Until you wrote that, I had been looking at your *face,* Rick, darlin'.

:lol::lol: That's hilarious! Actually I was just making a general observation. But....now that you mention it, I can see where my own attention was focused. :lol::lol::rolleyes:

Rick

[Zerbie]

:lol::lol: That's hilarious! Actually I was just making a general observation. But....now that you mention it, I can see where my own attention was focused. :lol::lol::rolleyes:

Rick

:lol::lol: It is funny! It's hilariously adorable. :p:p
:love:

[tdogg]

Rick, thanks for sharing the photos of the 1979 march. It gives me chills to see the pics and imagine you being there, in person! And you too Sherrie!

I get so excited and encouraged when I read about our GLBT history, and about the people who made it. I truly feel blessed that you are both on the forums and bring us your experiences. It helps, when getting my own feet wet (with the CA equality actions), to remember the struggles of those before me and then see the successes of their actions.

Thanks for the pictures, sharing your memories, and for continuing to give me motivation to get off my duff and do something! :love:

[Zerbie]

Rick, thanks for sharing the photos of the 1979 march. It gives me chills to see the pics and imagine you being there, in person! And you too Sherrie!

I get so excited and encouraged when I read about our GLBT history, and about the people who made it. I truly feel blessed that you are both on the forums and bring us your experiences. It helps, when getting my own feet wet (with the CA equality actions), to remember the struggles of those before me and then see the successes of their actions.

Thanks for the pictures, sharing your memories, and for continuing to give me motivation to get off my duff and do something! :love:

Hey T - ya gonna be in Phoenix again this fall?? I just bought a DVD about LGBT history from Stonewall to 2000. Maybe we could sit in the living room, eat veggie burgers or somethin', and watch the DVD together next time you're in town.

[tdogg]

Hey T - ya gonna be in Phoenix again this fall?? I just bought a DVD about LGBT history from Stonewall to 2000. Maybe we could sit in the living room, eat veggie burgers or somethin', and watch the DVD together next time you're in town.

Why yes Z! I'll be in Phoenix November 17 - 20th for training. Staying at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort. Flying in Monday the 17th, training 18th - 20th but evenings are free (as is the 17th). Let me know if you're gonna be home (was hoping to get to see you while I'm there!).

[Zerbie]

Oh cool!

Well, I have no idea of fall travel plans this far in advance - especially since this fall is hubby's long, long awaited sabbatical. He likes to take off on a moment's notice. But now that we have your training dates, we can have that in mind when we make plans. Hopefully, there won't be anything non-negotiable that we need to leave town for then. In fact, that might be opera performance time on campus. If it is, on the assumption I'm not singing in the opera, maybe we can get tix and go together. If you're interested.

The DVD idea is out. I just opened the package now to watch it, and found there was no disc inside. (Bought it used.) I can't believe we didn't think to check that while in the store. :mad:

[tdogg]

No DVD inside? Crazy. The cashier should have checked that out for you, maybe unless it was sealed? Opera would be good, I'm open for that. I've never been to an opera but I was in one, once. With my horse. Didn't sang, but led the horse on stage, all in costume and make up (both of us!). It was so cool.

Anyway, I PM'ed you. And recommended reading Making Gay History. For anyone else reading this, it's a great book, easy to read and very interesting. You can even read about the 1979 March, and now be able to envision Rick and Sherrie there!

[Rick336]

Rick, thanks for sharing the photos of the 1979 march. It gives me chills to see the pics and imagine you being there, in person! And you too Sherrie!

I get so excited and encouraged when I read about our GLBT history, and about the people who made it. I truly feel blessed that you are both on the forums and bring us your experiences. It helps, when getting my own feet wet (with the CA equality actions), to remember the struggles of those before me and then see the successes of their actions.

Thanks for the pictures, sharing your memories, and for continuing to give me motivation to get off my duff and do something!

Tdogg,

Thanks for your very kind words.:)

Yes. I'm sure Sherrie and others will agree when I say how wonderful it was to be a part of LGBT history 30 years ago. For me, those years were some of the most exciting and invigorating times of my life.

In 2008, you and many others on this forum are also making history. The fight going on out in California right now that you are busily involved in, will definitely go down in the books as a major battle for marriage equality.

The hard work last year in Arizona that resulted in the defeat of the state's anti-gay marriage amendment was also a first for LGBT history. Internet gay news sites are filled with similar struggles for equality going on all across the country.

By the turn of the next century, most of our battles will have long been won. Young married LGBT couples will be reading about the fight for our equality in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and be amazed at what we went through and what we accomplished.

This website is currently recording much of that history as it is being made. The news about the sit-ins, the fight for marriage equality, the Equality Riders' testimonies, the introduction of Mel White's books, the weekly updates on the American Family Outing, the personal stories of coming out, .....even the posts on this forum, are all going into the Soulforce archives and etched into cyberspace that could very well be read by young people ten decades from now.

This is indeed a very exciting time in LGBT history and we're all fortunate to be a part of it.

Rick

[Zerbie]

Thanks for the inspiring perspective, Rick. :love:




The hard work last year in Arizona that resulted in the defeat of the state's anti-gay marriage amendment was also a first for LGBT history. Internet gay news sites are filled with similar struggles for equality going on all across the country.


Rick

One little picky detail: Our success in Arizona occurred in 2006.

[Sherrie Z]

Tdogg,

Thanks for your very kind words.:)

Yes. I'm sure Sherrie and others will agree when I say how wonderful it was to be a part of LGBT history 30 years ago. For me, those years were some of the most exciting and invigorating times of my life.

Rick

Yes, I can certainly agree that it was wonderful, and thanks so much for the inspiring posts!

And many thanks to TDogg too! (Of course I'm jealous that you get to visit with Zerbie, LOL ... I hope you guys have lots of fun!)


By the way, I think that I recognize somebody I know from one of Rick's photos (!!!) ... I'll see if I can contact this person to check out this thread to confirm ... stay tuned! : )


*** NOTE: For more background about the 1979 March ... this link goes to the discussion that led to this thread ... : )

http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4949

[Sherrie Z]

Rick! This is so cool! One of your photos includes somebody I know! And somebody that I had written about in my earlier post, before you had even posted these photos, LOL! : )

In my above post here, I said that I thought I recognized someone from one of the photos ... I was pretty sure it was him, but I wanted him to confirm before I posted about it ... I've since checked with this person, and it has been confirmed!

I sent the link to this thread to my friend Jay so he could check this out, and he also recognized himself. He's wearing sunglasses and a camera in the photo marked "Minnesota delegation" ... but he wasn't marching that day with the Minnesota group, so he was either temporarily walking along with that group on his way to find his own group, or maybe it's mislabled? At any rate, he was marching with the Unitarians that day. I was marching along with him later on once I spotted him among the religious contingents.

This friend of mine is the minister that I mentioned meeting up with in the thread where we discussed the march (the link is shown in my other post above) ... at the time, he was the minister of the Chicago MCC church that I attended, but he was marching with the Unitarians that day, and he is now a Unitarian minister. I think there was a whole batch of church groups that day marching together.

I also sent him a link to the other thread where we discussed the march. He reports that my post brought back happy memories of that day, and that he is on the Soulforce mailing list and really appreciates the work of Soulforce ... : )

Thanks for posting that photo, Rick! It was really fun to reconnect with my minister friend because of this ... and it was fun for my friend too! : )

[Rick336]

Sherrie,

That's amazing that your friend is in one of the photos I snapped of the 1979 March on Washington almost 30 years ago. What a coincidence that out of 100,000 people that attended, he just happen to be in one of my photos.

The reason I labeled the photo the "Minnesota Delegation" was because most of the people marching behind him in the photo are from the delegation I was marching with that day from Minnesota. During the march I would occasionally step out of line, turn around and snap a photo.

So I'm not sure how your friend managed to be in the photo unless the Unitarian delegation was marching either in front of us or behind us which is probably the case. In fact, the more I think about it, his delegation could very well have been marching in front of ours.

By the way, since your friend has a camera around his neck in that photo, I assume he also has a collection of photos from that day. I'd love to see them. And, maybe you're in some of them. :)

Rick

[Sherrie Z]

Thanks, Rick!

Yes, I think that would explain it ... which means that you and I may have been marching near each other too, LOL! So amazing!

I wish that we could get my friend's photos too ... he already said that he didn't know where they were, LOL ... but I think that if he came across them now, I imagine he would let me know, and maybe we could post them here, that would be great! : )

It's funny to think that all over America, and maybe the world, there are probably photo collections like this from the march ... and we're probably in some of them ... small world! Thanks again, Rick! This has been really fun!

Hugs,

Sherrie