Petrelis Files

Cleve Heads to Copenhagen for DC March?;
Steering Committee Names Released

All of the details necessary to organize a successful march on Washington must be taken care of for the LGBT October 11 march on the nation's capital, because the chief convener of the fall mobilization, gay legend Cleve Jones, is on his way to Denmark.

He'll be speaking on Monday at the political conference in Copenhagen that runs concurrently with the World Out Gaymes. It's amazing what he's doing to make his march truly fab and he doesn't even have to be in DC or America to actually carry out the organizing.

Critics of the march, myself included, may have to eat crow if the march turns out to be a rousing hit. There is evidence LGBT people in the heartland are mobilizing for being there. From the Memphis Flyer:

On [July 14], about ten people gathered at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center (MLGCC) for the first planning meeting of the Mid-South delegation for the National Equality March. Of those ten, most expressed an interest in attending the national march in Washington DC on Sunday, October 11th ...

Previous gay right marches in 1979, 1987, and 1992 [sic - it was 1993] drew anywhere from 100,000 to 250,000 people, and this march is expected to meet or even exceed attendance from past years. All the previous marches boasted delegations from Memphis.

Not only is there interest in Tennessee, but we also learn that the October march will attract the same numbers as previous marches. Interesting that the writer omits mention of HRC's disastrous 2000 Millennium March, but we'll overlook that because we're assured large numbers of LGBT people will be in Washington this fall.

At this point, with just over two months left before the historic march descends on Washington, there probably isn't much more for Jones to take care of and whatever else must be organized can be addressed by the steering committee.

Sometime last week, the event, now branded as Equality Across America, revised its web site and include the names of who was on the steering committee, but that list disappeared. I know this only because the original page was cached by Google.

Click here to see the cache page, and click here to view the EAA page.

Steering Committee

We are currently assembling a diverse national steering committee. Please check back as this list grows.

All organizations are listed for identification purposes only. The views of steering committee members do not necessarily represent the views of their organizations.

Irene Andrews: LGBT Activist, community organizer, and Special Ed teacher; Nolanville, TX

Stuart Appelbaum:

Chip Arndt:

Danielle Askini: Immigration rights and transgender activist, National Program Manager for the Gay Straight Alliance Network; San Francisco, CA

Gilbert Baker:

Gary Belis:

Kellan Baker:

Dustin Lance Black:

Sandy Bostian:

Sara Beth Brooks:

Max Buschman:

Douglas Carlson: LGBT Activist, community organizer with Equality Network; Los Angeles, CA

Staceyann Chin:

Dan Choi:

David Comfort:

Tanner Efinger:

Paul Everton:

Seth Fowler:

Rayyan Ghuma:

Flik Huang:

Ryan Hutcherson:

Boo Jarchow:

David John Fleck:

Rick Jacobs: Founder and Chair of the Courage Campaign; Los Angeles, CA

Corey Johnson: LGBT Activist and Political Director for Towleroad.com; New York, NY

Cleve Jones: LGBT Activist, co-founder of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, founder of the NAMES Project Foundation/AIDS Memorial Quilt, LGBT Program Director for Unite Here International Union; Palm Springs, CA

Ilona Kadar:

Kyle Klatt:

Robin McGehee: LGBT Activist, lead organizer of Meet in the Middle 4 Equality; Fresno, CA

Chris Miller:

David Mixner:

Ann Northrop: LGBT Activist, co-host of Gay USA; New York, NY

Torie Osborn:

Billy Pollina:

Loch Powell: LGBT Activist, co-founder Unite The Fight, Chair OUT West Coalition; Los Angeles, CA

Mark Reed:

James Rucker: Executive Director and co-founder, ColorOfChange.org; San Francisco, CA

Chelsea Salem: LGBT Activist, community organizer with Organge County Equality Coalition; San Clemente, CA

Andrea Shorter: LGBT Activist, co-founder of And Marriage for All, Coalition Builder for Equality California; San Francisco, CA

Stacey Simmons:

Thomas Simmons: LGBT Activist, community organizer; Cordova, TN

RJ Taylor:

Wayne Ting:

Anasa Troutman: Formerly of the Highlander Center, currently with the Movement Strategy Center; Atlanta, GA

Chris Verdugo:

Frank Voci:

Nathan Walker:

Derek Washington:

Kip Williams:

Sherry Wolf: LGBT Activist, Author; Chicago, IL

Anne-Marie Williams: LGBT Activist, formerly of the Jordan / Rustin Coalition; Los Angeles, CA

Willow Witte: LGBT Activist, Executive Director and co-founder of Join the Impact; Washington, DC

Stephen Zollman: LGBT Activist, San Francisco Public Defenders Office; San Francisco, CA