National Equality Rally at Independence Hall March for Equality on Independence Mall Sunday, May 3, 2009

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a First Amendment permit for a National Equality Rally at Independence Hall on Sunday afternoon, May 3, 2009 at Independence National Historical Park.

The goals of the National Equality Rally are:

– Passage of trans-inclusive hate crimes legislation and the Employment

Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

– Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act

(DOMA)

– Support for GLBT health issues

– Equal benefits for same-sex families

– Same-sex marriage Equality

Regional, state and national organizations, people of color, progressive religious institutions, high school and college GSAs, and straight ally organizations will be represented as Co-Organizers. Over 100 organizations from across the nation will March for Equality on Independence Mall.

Leaders will carry their organization’s name on pole-mounted placards. Activists, participants and straight allies will be offered American and rainbow flags. After completion of the March for Equality, activists, organizations, and allies will fill in Independence Mall for a one-hour high-impact Rally.

Gay Pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz will lead grassroots activists, organizations, and straight allies in the March for Equality on Independence Mall from the National Constitution Center to Independence Hall.

The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware will open the Rally with a choral tribute, and 100 members of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Anna Crusis Women’s Choir and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia will sing a special rendition of “America the Beautiful” to end the Rally.

The Philadelphia Freedom Band and members of the national Lesbian and Gay Band Association will join the March for Equality on Independence Mall. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association marched in President Obama’s Inaugural Parade. There will be participants from the New York Big Apple Corps, D.C.’s Different Drummers, North Carolina Pride Band, and Flamingo Freedom Band of South Florida, among others, marching past the Liberty Bell Center and the Gay Pioneers Historic Marker to Independence Hall.

Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the Gay Pioneers held the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations called “Annual Reminders” each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. The Annual Reminders laid the groundwork for the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and the first New York Pride Parade in 1970.

“Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are where the movement was launched. With a new Congress and a President who describes himself as a ‘fierce advocate’ of our civil rights, it is the right moment for us to join hands at an iconic location to demand Equality,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum.

Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. The National Equality Rally at Independence Hall will be held on the concluding day of Equality Forum 2009 (April 27 to May 3), the largest and premiere annual national and international GLBT civil rights forum.

For more information about the National Equality Rally at Independence Hall, visit www.nationalequalityrally.org. For more information on gay-friendly Philadelphia or to book a hotel stay, visit the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s website at www.gophila.com/gay.

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Help Gay band in Obama Parade

Gay band refines performance for inauguration

Members of the Lesbian & Gay Band Association practiced playing their instruments and marching in lockstep Monday in an effort to refine their performance for their parade appearance on Inauguration Day.

The band, which is slated to be the first gay contingent to march in a presidential inaugural parade, had its dress rehearsal at St. Elizabeth’s, a federally operated psychiatric hospital, and marched around the facility’s grounds.

Marita Begley, one of the drum majors for the band, urged marchers to tighten their step during the rehearsal.

“On the turn, if you’re turning right, you guide right!” she shouted. “You got to stay shoulder-to-shoulder on the turn. Don’t swing out!”

See Gay band refines performance for inauguration
Southern Voice, GA

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Help Gay band in Obama Parade

San Francisco band to make history at inaugural

San Francisco members of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association and a Saratoga middle school marching band are the only two groups in California tapped to march down Pennsylvania Avenue in what is set to be an historic inauguration parade.

Twenty-six members of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Freedom Band and Cheer San Franciscowere selected from the Lesbian and Gay Band Association’s thousands of members nationwide to participate in the Jan. 20 event.

“I think it is great that the event is continuing the inclusion of the GLBT community in the important activities of our nation,” said Paul Boneberg, executive director of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. “I say congratulations to Obama for enhancing the visibility of our community by having them march.”

Doug Litwin, a clarinet player in the San Francisco band, said this is the first time an openly gay band has marched, although his band played on the sidelines during both Clinton inauguration parades.

“It was an amazing experience to be openly gay and participate, but this time we get to actually march in the parade,” Litwin said. “It is a bigger deal symbolically to be moving with the contingent.”

More than 1,400 marching bands applied to be in the parade that will follow Barack Obama’s swearing in at the Capitol on Jan. 20. To date, 70 have been selected.

See San Francisco band to make history at inaugural
San Francisco Chronicle, USA

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Gay band to march in Presidential inauguration parade

Gays and lesbians — at least some of them — plan to refrain from working and shopping today as an expression of their dismay over Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 measure that banned same-sex marriage, and as a showing of both their economic clout and their place within the larger community. If organizers carry it off, this is exactly the kind of tactic that can make a difference, though its impact might have been bigger before election day.

For all the complaints (mainly coming from the Yes-on-8 campaign), boycotts against corporations or organizations are a time-honored method of expressing opinions and pushing for social or political change. But in the superheated Proposition 8 debate, this venerable tactic has occasionally been used in ugly ways.

It started when the directors of the Yes-on-8 campaign sent letters to various companies that had donated to the opposition camp. The missives warned donors to pay an equal amount to the “Yes” side or risk being publicly outed as opponents of “traditional marriage” (the implication being that they would then face a boycott). The tactic looked and quacked a lot like extortion. It’s one thing to boycott, or threaten it; a demand for hush money goes over the line.

Since then, postelection boycott efforts by the other side — defenders of same-sex marriage — have expanded into a vengeful campaign against individuals who donated to the gay-marriage ban, usually in the form of pressure on their employers. At least two people have resigned from their jobs and a third is considering it, including the artistic director of a stage company in Sacramento and a manager at an L.A. eatery.

See Gay band to march in Presidential inauguration parade
PinkNews.co.uk, UK

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Gay band to march in Presidential inauguration parade

For the first time in American history, a gay group has been asked to march in the Inaugural Parade.

President-elect Obama will take the oath of office on January 20th during an elaborate day of celebrations in Washington DC.

The parade will include the Lesbian and Gay Band Association as a marching contingent.

See Gay band to march in Presidential inauguration parade
PinkNews.co.uk, UK

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Gay band association accepted for inauguration festivities

The Lesbian and Gay Band Association, a musical group with members from gay marching and symphonic bands across the country, has been accepted by President-elect Barack Obama to march in the 2009 inaugural parade.

This is the first inaugural parade to feature a gay group. Former President Clinton allowed gay groups to perform on the sidewalk during the parade, but not to march. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association participated in both of Clinton’s inaugurations.

“This is the first time that an LGBT group will be represented in a Presidential Inaugural Parade, truly our chance to make history,” said the association’s inaugural committee to members Saturday.

See Gay band association accepted for inauguration festivities
Washington Blade, DC