I could bore you with economic tales of woe and how I barely made it to Washington, DC and back, but does anyone care a whit about Withers’ finances? Despite my lack of Tweets–attempted but my technology skills would shame a third-grader–I was at yesterday’s rally.

The original plan was to get a press pass and do all of the press things (which is really about access). That was scrapped and for the day I was a proud resident of the Mountain State. Approximately 25 people from Fairness West Virginia donned bright yellow shirts (loved by the crowd and a few bees) and marched with the LGBT  tribe. This decision by the way was marked as a good thing by the gods because when the march started a rainbow graced the light blue sky. For some reason others in the crowd saw the rainbow differently.

As we walked, we were enthusiastically joined by at least two people actually from West Virginia,  excited their home soil was representing. When Liz Zale—she is “the wife” of Maria Baugh, the  cupcake queen of New York–and I asked a mounted police for directions he pointed to our t-shirts, wondering if we were residents of the state. He looked a little  disappointed when we told him we were just New Yorkers.

From where we stood it was hard to gauge the size of the rally and it would be foolhardy to try, but like all reports have pointed it was impressive.  While a hearty debate about the march’s effectiveness is worth having, I hope it will kill that annoying memo that the young are apathetic.  Jeesh, the city was overwhelmed with young gays and their straight allies. Walked past two anti-gay protesters both with bull horns, telling us about Jesus’ love and how gays are going to hell. One of  the bull horned men was  Randall Terry. He’s not a tall man. As he was spewing his mess, some young queen stood in front of him and said a line of scripture. Terry had no response. The youngster laughed and joined his friends. I would like to say he snapped his fingers, but that is my imagination. I think.

Liz and I were leaving the subway to get back home and these two lipstick lesbians ran up to us (we still had our West Virgina t-shirts on).

“Did you two just come from the march? Is it still going on?,” one of them asked. I want to say the other was applying lipstick, but that could be my imagination.

We answered yes to both.

“What subway should we take.”

I let Liz deal with that one. She was our GPS for the weekend. They thanked us and ran to catch up with their peers. The pair were not wearing heels.

I kn0w I’m rambling at this point, but let me end  with a description of two other young  women. They were standing in front of the Capitol Dome (for the record: I’m still enough of a geek that I got goose bumps looking at the city’s buildings). They both had t-shirts with the phrase “Gay? Fine by me.” Tall and lanky, the type of women basketball coaches dream of. They had an American flag with rainbow colors and after waving it, folded it as Old Glory should be, ending in a triangle with the stars on front. Two young women showing more respect to the symbol of the country than the country affords them.

I don’t mean to pile on Cleve Jones, the organizer for the National Equality March, but there are times when he talks and its easy to wonder if he likes Mary Jane a bit too much. In a recent interview he says two things that are rather naive and dismissive of local organizers who are doing important grunt work.

When asked what issues the October 11 march will address, here is Mr. Jones:

“We want decisive, unequivocal action from the president, Congress and the United States Supreme Court to ensure equal protection under the law in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states, period.”

What the devil does that mean? Repeal of DOMA and DADT? Gay marriage in all 50 states (good luck with that!). Civil rights laws for gays and lesbians? Can the man be more vague? And last time I checked the Supreme Court’s job isn’t to ensure some political outcome. Its role is only to make meaning from the laws (and if you look at the history of the Court, minus the past 50 years, its a rather conservative institution, but that is for another time).

Jones also seems to have a disdain for the daily work done by locals. You know those folk you call when the police do some shady stuff or you get beat down for having the gall to think you can walk the streets at night.

” We who are organizing the march are tired of a state-by-state, city-by-city struggle. It certainly has produced victories, but these victories are incomplete and impermanent.”

Sure, but can we get our fair due of the freedom pie by ignoring  the local activists who will be on the ground when the rally stage is put away? Former 365 blogger Pauline Park wonders if all of the focus on a national movement will dry up much needed funds for organizations who are the lifeblood for the movement Jones wants.

“What the march will do is divert scarce resources from those state and local organizations doing the real work of the movement just at a moment when they most need resources because of the recession. In fact, a lot of state and local organizations already have events planned for Oct 11 — which is National Coming Out Day — and so the scheduling of this march on that day will force many of those organizations to choose between continuing to organize events in their home communities or send members to Washington.”

I know the complaints. “Why can’t gays and lesbians support something without being so critical?” “If this march is not a success our rights will be taken away.” “Every gay and lesbian needs to support this march. If not you are traitor.”  “Support this march or get out of the way.” Phooey to all of that.

Movements are weak if they can’t stand up to sturdy and fair critique. Sure too many comments about Jones  and the march are silly and those statements need to be taken for what they are: bitter mess by bitter people. However, freedom struggles get no where if there isn’t a hard question every now and then.

None of this means you shouldn’t go to DC this weekend, and if you read it like that get some glasses. Please. Yet ask yourself, and the folk organizing this thing, how do they plan on spreading a national movement if they don’t support the ground troops?

Oh sweet Jesus! A little over a week before the big to do in Washington, DC and look at what the folk at Queerty do. Throw out some provocative essay about race, activism, and the “gay community.” Lord help us. Hide the children and bar the doors!

Nakhone Keodara comes out swinging with his “The Whites Can Have LGBT Activism: I Quit.” He argues  the concerns of gays and lesbians of color are never at the table when white gay activists get together, that Anglo gays are always quick to make the argument that discrimination is discrimination without ever giving their white privilege a look over, and that the freedom of all gays and lesbians, no matter their racial background, is not the care of the gay freedom movement.

“We’re frustrated with being shut out, discredited and slandered when we attempt to speak up and represent the interest of the people of color LGBT community. Now I see that it’s fruitless because they just don’t understand that their white privilege has prevented them from having empathy or compassion concerning discrimination the people of color LGBTs have endured even within the LGBT community.”

So in response to this Keodara is calling an end to his gay activism and leaving it to white folks. There are a few things about Keodara’s jeremiad that need to be called out. The whole reasoning behind white privilege is rickety at best. Oh it can get a few applauds, but it it’s too  broad and imprecise to have any meaning, especially now that race lacks its rigid legal codification.

As for “quitting,” that is an option only “the privileged” can consider. Right now I’m reading Slotkin’s No Quarter: The Battle of The Crater, 1864 and if black Union soldiers dealt with the racial barbarity of the Confederate enemy and the perfidy of too many of their white Union comrades, Keodara can keep keeping on with the annoying assumptions of some of his white brethern and sistern.

Keodara also engages in the type of thinking that he critiques Anglos for.

“The Anglo LGBT community refuses to listen to any of the concerns of the people of color within this movement and it will do what it pleases regardless of the consequences.”

If we as gays of color hate it when a few whites describe communities of color with sloppy and general terms, it makes no sense to use that same schedule. Broad strokes are consistently unhelpful, no matter who uses them.

With all of that said though, whenever the topic is race, electronic comment boards do show an ugly underside that at some point has to be talked about. It would have been nice if a few of the folk commenting on Keodora’s words would have kept their white sheets at home, but that is becoming typical for us as a community. When the topic is race ( can we say Prop 8 defeat?) we rev up in overdrive and type out stuff that is ugly. It would be cool if “the community” actually had a conversation about race, but that is never going to happen because we have much invested in this fantasy that we are just one big happy gay family.

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This will earn me no love, but I’m too old to care for best buds. While I will be in Washington DC for the National Equality March, I would rather stay home that weekend.

There are the standard reasons, all silly and selfish. A weekend lost, disdain for crowds (yes I know that makes no sense considering my present address), budget issues, et., etc. The main reason for my indifference is a distrust that large political rallies are effective.

Yes, I know. I know. March on Washington, 1963, “I Have A Dream,” tears of joy, the power of the people will never be defeated, blah, blah, and blah again. Many of you will point to that historical moment with pangs of misty nostalgia. Fair point, but most don’t know the history. Rallying at the nation’s seat of power had been an idea since 1941 and not everyone agreed it was worth the effort. The keyboard revolutionaries who hold up Malcolm X as a model should know he called the 1963 march “the farce on Washington.” Looking forward to how our keyboard Trotskyites wrap their heads around that one

I’m not convinced what a mass rally gets “the community”, a group of people divided by race, class, geography, and politics. Sure there will be much talk of all the energy surrounding the Mall that weekend, but all that nebulous energy does not translate into political power. Might make you feel good but it won’t get a bill passed.

These concerns are academic though. I’ll be there. If you see me, however, please don’t be shocked if I look like I want to be somewhere else. You’ll be right.

1. Anyone NOT going to the October 10-11 DC march? Reasons? I’m 85 percent sure I’ll be there. The 15 of doubt is purely budget issues.

2. Reason 519 why I’m smitten with the day job: on Fridays the office refrigerator is cleaned out by the office manager. Last week he started the throwing out process at 2:30 PM, approximately 30 minutes before I wanted to eat. My lunch ended up in the garbage bin.

3. Anyone else spend Saturday watching the Ted Kennedy funeral and burial?

4. Are you football fans ready for the upcoming season? No fan of the sport. Give me teams to root for, college and pros.

5. Hopefully the killer of Tyli’a “NaNa Boo” Mack is found. If you are of the praying kind, send your thoughts to her family.

6. Finally saw the episode of “American Dad” called Lincoln Lover. What a hoot!

7. For some reason I’m on a Nat King Cole kick.

8. Reason 912 why I have a soft spot for conservatives: they moan and groan when liberal celebrities yap about politics, but reach heights of sexual delight when a conservative actor takes the bus to crazy town. And yeah,  anyone who pushes Obama is making the country “socialist” and  he is “causing civil unrest” memos is loonier than a nutty loon.

9. Finished The Brothers Karamazov. Wish I had something profound to say.

10. Does Dick Cheney understand the role of the Attorney General?

Unless you have been living under a rock, there is a gay rights march in Washington, DC in early October.

“A march,” you ask with indignation. “I didn’t know. Why doesn’t our gay media keep us informed of these important things. God, our gay press has failed again. Why can’t we have gay versions of Walter Cronkite or Don Hewitt?”

Yes, gentle reader there is a rally. Called the National Equality March; go to this site and you will get all the information you need. If you can’t be in DC that weekend, you’ll find suggestions for alternative activities. Between now and October 11, I’ll spend an entry each week reporting about the upcoming rally.

Much in the above three paragraphs was written with tongue firmly placed in cheek, but give props to Joey in the Nutmeg State. While 365Gay has done a fair number of articles on the National Equality March, Joey suggested we do more to get the word out. Point taken.

With that said let’s start with a question: what do you hope happens on October 12? When the march is done, the speeches are forgotten, and the cameras are turned off, what do you wish to see, either for yourself or the quest for gay rights?

Liberalism lost a lion last night. RIP Edward M. Kennedy. More words on the last Kennedy brother will follow this week.

In the fight against workplace discrimination, Vincenz said, “we were supposed to look employable.”

The dress code won’t be the only thing that has changed when Vincenz, 71, returns to Philadelphia this weekend for the National Equality Rally. The event planned for Sunday is being billed as the first national demonstration since 2000 for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights and the first to be held outside Washington.

“We are at the tipping point of the GLBT civil rights movement,” said Malcolm Lazin, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Equality Forum, which is sponsoring the event. “This is a movement that will not let up.”

Supporters will have much to cheer. Nine years ago – before the last march on the National Mall in Washington – Vermont had just passed the country’s first civil-unions law. Today, gays can marry in Vermont, Connecticut, Iowa and Massachusetts; bills are pending in several other states.

But gay rights advocates also say there is much work to do. Demonstrators will call for same-sex marriage equality nationwide; for including transgendered individuals in federal anti-discrimination and hate crime laws; and for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Organizers plan a march circling the blocks around Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, followed by a one-hour rally.

“It is important for our community to come together to celebrate our lives and our accomplishments as well as to push for further inclusion in the nation’s promises of liberty and equality for everyone,” said Jennifer Manion, director of student services for the gay community at Connecticut College.

The symbolism of Philadelphia, where all men were declared created equal, was just as powerful to Vincenz and Frank Kameny, who organized the first “Annual Reminder Day Picket” for gay rights on July 4, 1965, at Independence Hall.

Kameny, a World War II combat veteran, said he lost his job with the U.S. Army’s map service in 1957 because he is gay. The pickets were designed “to remind the public that there’s still one large group of people who are not having their rights protected, and are still being subject to prejudice and discrimination without remedy,” he said.

Activists demanded an end to anti-gay bias in federal civil service employment and the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders, among other issues.

The first picket was held four years before the landmark Stonewall riots in New York, considered the birth of the gay rights movement. It drew between 25 and 40 people, according to Kameny and Vincenz. By the time the fifth one was held in 1969, just as Stonewall was ending, about 150 people attended.

Today’s gay rights rallies, which can draw tens of thousands, involve issues “we never would have conceived back then,” Kameny said.

Now 83 and living in Washington, Kameny will return on Sunday to the site of the “annual reminders,” which are now commemorated by a state historical marker.

By any measure, the gay rights movement has achieved “remarkable success” in the 40 years since Stonewall, Manion said. But those victories mask deeper-rooted problems with homophobia, especially as experienced by adolescents too young to benefit from same-sex marriage or job anti-bias laws, she said.

“Young people … are still subject to the beliefs and whims of their parents,” Manion said. “All the stigmas are still the same.”

Vincenz, though, said she is optimistic about the future. She looks forward to visiting Philadelphia for the march and rally – while wearing a pair of “nice slacks.”

“I just feel ecstatic about the younger generation and what they’re doing,” Vincenz said. “There’s a groundswell of people who finally feel empowered, that they can make a difference.”