Kip Williams and Robin McGehee resigned for a mix of reasons, they said in letters to Equality Across America, Bill Browning reports.

“I’m moving on from EAA for personal and professional reasons. First, I need more security in my life, because I worked on the march for less than minimum wage and without health insurance,” Williams said in a statement to the Bilerico Project. “Second, I share with EAA the goal of full federal equality, but I have different ideas about the road to get there.”

Williams says he was paid $9,000 for his work on the march from July 1 until Nov. 1.

Tanner Efinger, Cleve Jones’ personal assistant, was elected by executive committee members (including Browning) to serve as a volunteer interim Project Director.

Jones said that he wasn’t sure that Equality Across America is a viable organization, as it still doesn’t have a mission statement, bylaws or a budget.

Readers from all over the country – and the globe – who couldn’t be at the March themselves shared their good wishes and their stories. They are amazing to read and made me cry.

“Hey, Obama, let mama marry mama” some chanted Sunday. Others cried out, “We’re out, we’re proud, we won’t back down.”

Some taking part in the National Equality March woke up energized by Obama’s promise to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military. He made that pledge in a speech Saturday night to the Human Rights Campaign, nation’s largest gay rights group.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday that Congress will need to muster the resolve to change the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” – a change that the military may be ready for.

“I think it has to be done in the right way, which is to get a buy-in from the military, which I think is now possible,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

Joining the march were 20 cast members from the musical, “Hair.” They chose to let a Broadway matinee show go dark to come march and were led by the show’s star, Gavin Creel.

“I take him at his word,” the 33-year-old Creel said of Obama afterward. “This is just the beginning.”

Those marching listened to noteworthy activists such as Cynthia Nixon, a cast member from HBO’s “Sex and the City” who hopes to marry partner Christine Marinoni next year; and Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was killed because he was gay.

During a rally at the Capitol, keynote speaker Julian Bond – chairman of the NAACP – linked the gay rights struggle to the Civil Rights movement, saying gays and lesbians should be free from discrimination.

“Black people of all people should not oppose equality, and that is what marriage is all about,” he said. “We have a lot of real and serious problems in this country, and same-sex marriage is not one of them.

For Lt. Dan Choi, the day began with a jog around Washington’s memorials, calling cadence at 8 a.m. with fellow veterans and supporters before joining the march. A West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, Choi is facing discharge under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for revealing in March that he is gay.

He appeared later at a rally in his Army uniform, a piece of black tape over his mouth.

“Many of us have been discharged from the service because we told the truth,” he said.

Pop singer Lady Gaga, who is bisexual, got some of the biggest cheers Sunday. She didn’t perform but pledged to reject homophobia in the music industry and support her “most beautiful gay fans in the world.”

Unlike the first march in 1979 and others in 1987, 1993 and 2000 that included many celebrity performances and drew as many as 500,000 people, Sunday’s event was driven by grassroots efforts.

Washington authorities don’t disclose crowd estimates at rallies, though the crowd appeared to number in the tens of thousands, overflowing from the Capitol lawn.

Some activists doubted the march would accomplish much. They said the time and money would have been better spent working to persuade voters in Maine and Washington state, where the November ballot will include a measure that would overturn a bill granting same-sex couples many of the benefits of marriage.

A bill introducing same-sex marriage was introduced last week by the District of Columbia Council and is expected to pass.

March organizer Cleve Jones, creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and a protege of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk, said he had initially discouraged a rally earlier this year. But he and others began to worry Obama was backing away from his campaign promises.

“Since we’ve seen that so many times before, I didn’t want it to happen again,” he said. “We’re not settling. There’s no such thing as a fraction of equality.”

The team today:

Gavin Creel is the Tony-nominated star of Hair on Broadway, and is the co-founder of Broadway Impact, an organization of theater professionals fighting for Marriage Equality. (Gavincreel)

Christine Quinn is the Speaker of the New York City Council and an open lesbian. (ChrisCQuinn)

Jennifer Vanasco is the editor in chief of 365gay.com and an award-winning columnist. (JenniferVanasco)

Ali Davis writes RachelWatch for 365Gay. She certainly would not be so crass as to promote her book, True Porn Clerk Stories, in this short bio. Oh, wait. Oops. (Ali_Davis)

James Withers lives in New York City and is a contributing editor of the 365gay blog. (JamesWithers3)

John Polly is the editor of LogoOnline.com, NewNowNext.com and TripOutGayTravel.com. (JohnPolly_Logo)

Jon Mallow is a Senior Director at LOGOonline and occasionally covers politics and entertainment for 365gay.com and NewNowNext.com. (jonmallow)

Ray Hunt is a Logo staffer, a pop culture fanatic, a political junkie and an aficionado of the combat boot. (rayhuntLOGO)

Marc Leonard is Senior Vice President of Programming at Logo. (logochannel)

Kameron Zach is a logo staffer and is shooting video for 365gay.com. (kamerondotcom)

Saturday  from 7 p.m. to about 11 p.m. EST, we will be live tweeting from the Obama speech at the HRC Equality Dinner and from the 365gay meetup near the Capitol.

Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. check in to our home page for a live group tweet – with photos and video – on the March and Rally.

Who will be tweeting?

Your favorite 365ers, including Ali Davis, James Withers and Jennifer Vanasco; Logo’s John Polly, Jon Mallow and Ray Hunt; and – wait for it – Gavin Creel, from the cast of Hair, and New York City Council Speaker and out lesbian Christine Quinn.

You will be able to comment in real time in the Twitter stream (we’ll be using CoverItLive – you won’t need a Twitter account, just a computer), answer poll questions and feel like you are there.

She’ll also be at the HRC Equality Dinner the night before….as will Barack Obama. I wonder what that conversation will be like.

365gay will be there too, of course. We’ll be covering Obama’s speech, the Saturday night 365gay meetup, the Sunday march and rally, all via live Twitter updates and video posts. Check back here all weekend for the latest from Jennifer Vanasco, Ali Davis and James Withers.

Does knowing  that Lady Gaga – and the cast of Hair – will be there prompt you to go?

Buses leave from Williamsburg, Chelsea (where you can ride with NYC Countil Speaker Christine Quinn), the Upper West Side/Columbia, the West Village and Washington Square/NYU Most tickets are $34. Broadway Impact’s free buses are sold out)

Buy a ticket here.

Jenny and I will be driving. Ali Davis will be flying from California. James Withers – OK, I don’t know how James is getting there, but he’ll be there. We all hope you’ll be there, too.

Bond likens the National Equality March to the Civil Rights March of 1963.   “We had a dream and marched on Washington to demand our rights; I am proud to stand with the LGBT community as they march for theirs,” he said.
 
St. Olaf college student Richard Aviles will be speaking on behalf of student activists from across the country, who have organized for the march and are descending on Washington.
 
Also speaking will be Judy Shepard, who lost her son Matthew to a murder motivated by anti-gay hate and who founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in his memory. The Foundation is dedicated to working toward the causes championed by Matthew during his life: social justice, diversity awareness and education, and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
 
Following is a complete listing of speakers to date.
 
Stuart Applebaum
Richard Aviles
Jarret Barrios
Dustin Lance Black
Julian Bond
Marsha Botzer
Staceyann Chin
Lt. Dan Choi
Tanner Efinger
Hawaii Board of Education Member Kim Coco Iwamoto
Cleve Jones
Michelle Lopez
Robin McGehee
David Mixner
Nicole-Murray Ramirez
Chloe Noble
Tobias Packer
Reverend Troy Perry
New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn
Los Angeles Council Member Bill Rosendahl
Babs Siperstein
Judy Shepard
Maxim Thorn
Urvashi Vaid
Derek Washington
Falls Church City Council Member Lawrence Webb
Kit Yan
Kip Williams
Sherry Wolf

The march will be the first step toward a larger goal of creating a national movement – the 50 State Legislative Outreach Campaign — in all 435 congressional districts to demand of elected representatives full equality under the law.

“The march is just the beginning,” said McGehee. “We are not expecting to wake up on Monday morning with a federal bill on the presidents desk to sign.”
 
“We will no longer be told to wait. This march is our chance to demand full equal protection under the law, and it will help us realize the dream of Equality Across America: a committed group of grassroots activists in all 435 Congressional Districts,” added Williams.