10/11/2026
Anniversary - October 11
October 11, 1987 - The Second National March on Washington for Le***an and Gay Rights occurs in Washington, D.C. About 750,000 LGBTQ people and their allies attended the march, which occurred in the midst of six days of protests, rallies, and other events.
The march was the first time the AIDS Memorial Quilt was fully unveiled in public.
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The first National March on Washington for Le***an and Gay Rights occurred on October 14, 1979.
The LGBTQ community in the United States was in crisis by 1986. The AIDS pandemic was under way, with 25,000 people already dead. President Ronald Reagan refused to even mention the words "HIV" or "AIDS, and his administration was doing next to nothing to stem the AIDS crisis. In June 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bowers v. Hardwick that states had the right to criminalize so**my between two consenting men in the privacy of a home.
Worried by these events, Steve Ault and Joyce Hunter, co-coordinators of the 1979 march, drafted documents proposing a second national march. These documents were distributed to every le***an and gay organization then known, and they were asked if they were interested in having a second march. The response was favorable, and a planning meeting was held in New York City on July 16, 1986. Representatives at this meeting formed a "national conference" to plan the march, and selected October 1987 as the date.
At a second meeting in New York City held November 14-16, 1986, the national conference discussed the politics surrounding the march, the march agenda, and logistics. Goals were set, and the conference decided to make a major push to reach out and include marginalized members of the LGBTQ community (particularly people of color, the poor, and those living with disabilities).
A third meeting was held in January 1987 in West Hollywood, California. Steve Ault, Pat Norman, and Kay Ostberg were elected the three national co-chairs of the event. The West Hollywood delegates decided to focus not only on LGBTQ issues, but broader issues (like racism and sexism) as well. They understood that the oppression of one group affects the oppression of all groups. They realized that issues (like sexism) within and affecting the LGBTQ community could not be resolved unless society as a whole addressed the issue.
The seven primary demands issued by the West Hollywood representatives were:
1. Legal recognition of le***an and gay relationships.
2. Repeal of all laws that make so**my between consenting adults a crime.
3. A presidential order banning LGBT discrimination by the federal government.
4. Passage by Congress of a le***an and gay civil rights bill.
5. An end to discrimination against people with HIV or AIDS, or those perceived to have AIDS. Massive increases in funding for AIDS education, research, and patient care, rather than on defense or war.
6. Absolute reproductive freedom, the right of women (and men) to control their own bodies, and an end to sexist oppression.
7. An end to racism in this country and apartheid in South Africa.
A fourth and final meeting was held in Atlanta on May 2-3, 1987, to finalize logistical details and the names of individuals who were going to speak at the march's rally.
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Eighty activities were scheduled for the six days of protest. The first of these began on October 9. On October 10, more than 2,000 gay and le***an couples married in front of the Internal Revenue Service Building as a protest against the ban on gay marriage.
The march itself occurred on October 11. It began at 9 AM with on The Ellipse south of the White House with music and a statement by Dan Bradley, a Carter administration White House aide who had AIDS. The marchers then proceeded down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol.
At the head of the march were the national co-chairs and delegates to the organizational meetings. Immediately behind them was a large contingent of people with AIDS, a number of whom were in wheelchairs. (About a dozen people with AIDS became so ill during the march that they had to be rushed to the hospital.)
Members of ACT UP formed several contingents in the march, engaging in political theater and protest along the parade route. The media took widespread notice of them, making the first time that ACT UP won media attention outside of New York City.
The marchers took all morning to parade down the route, as more than 500,000 people made the march. (The New York Times estimated the crowd on The Ellipse at 200,000. This number was widely reported as "the" march total. The newspaper made its estimate at 8 AM, and failed to count the number of people arriving at the kick-off point throughout the morning, or those arriving for the rally but not the march. Many New York Times, AP, UPI, and Washington Post photos of the event featured the AIDS Memorial Quilt, rather than the march or rally. These photos show only the 100,000 or so people viewing the quilt at any given time.)
At the Capitol, a massive rally occurred throughout the afternoon. Among the speakers at the rally were Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers; Eleanor Smeal, president of the National Organization of Women; Rev. Jesse Jackson, Democratic candidate for president; and actress Whoopi Goldberg.
More than 750,000 people attended the rally. (That estimate came from the D.C. Metropolitan Police.)
On the National Mall west of the Capitol, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled in its entirety in public for the first time ever. Roughly 300,000 people viewed the quilt throughout the afternoon.
Activities continued on October 12, 13, and 14. On October 13, more than 1,500 LGBTQ people engaged in civil disobedience in front of the Supreme Court building to protest the ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick.
source The Celluloid Closet Babylon
