Mia's Report: National Equality march

Our very own Mia BloomBecker had the unique opportunity to report from this past National Equality March on October 1o and 11 in Washington D.C. As you might have gathered from all of the press reports this was a well attended and powerful event.

Thanks Mia!

Oh. And look for Mia's work to be featured in the Women's Center on November 19th. Details to follow.

By: Mia BloomBecker

I was lucky enough to attend the National Equality March, which was on October 12. I went with the Love and Equality for All People (L.E.A.P.) club at our school, with 10 other students from Lesley. We drove to Washington D.C. in a large bus, along with students from other colleges. We got to D.C. at 7 in the morning, and had the whole day off. The next day we went to the march, which lasted 2 hours, and heard speakers for around 3 and a half hours. More than 200,000 people attended the march, which is incredible.

The speakers were very inspirational, and had widely varied backgrounds. They represented different races, nationalities and sexuality. The most notable speaker was Lady GaGa. My favorites were Dustin Lance Black (who wrote the screenplay for Milk) and a woman from Jamaica named Stacey Ann Chinn. She spoke about how shocked she was that Americans had as few gay rights as her native country.

One of the common themes was that gay rights are civil rights. Many of the speakers connected gay rights to other movements, such as the Women's Movement and Civil Rights. Several speakers emphasized that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community cannot win this battle alone. Straight allies are greatly needed and appreciated. Gay marriage and the president repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy were the main foci, but there are many other issues, such as job discrimination, that also deserve attention.

Here are some of the photos I took at the march. There are more on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotumbrella