brenner@aruba.DEC (06/29/84)
Yes, Scott, I for one made it to the New York march, and I also would much rather talk about positive things like the march than add to the avalanche about morality (the other reason why I've been quiet this week; the main reason was that I was busy fighting the more mundane controversies of the job I get paid for!) The NY march, like NY itself, was massive and gave me a wicked case of acute sensory overload. I mostly stayed with the student and alumni groups--Brown and Yale were particularly well represented, there was a smattering of people who came down from MIT and other Massachusetts schools, plus the NY alumnums (neologism created to avoid "alumni/ae" :-) ) of Harvard/Radcliffe. Plus many more. The last time I did the NY march, a few years ago, it had started in the Village and finished some hours and several miles later in Central Park. For the past couple of years it's been run the opposite direction--some predictably diffuse objection by the powers-that-be about traffic congestion or some such. So we mustered in all the side streets adjoining Columbus Circle, stepped off at noon, swept past all the fancy hotels of Central Park South, and proceeded all the way down Fifth. There was a definite political overtone to this march. From what I could piece together from hurried conversations, Koch and the Catholic archdiocese had very recently gotten into a fight over a city directive against dealing with agencies that discriminated against gay employees. The archdiocese said no way would they change their policies, Koch at first said okay, take your public service programs and leave, and then, as Hissoner is wont, backed down and said let's see what the courts have to say. (I am oversimplifying tremendously, at great risk of inaccuracy.) In any case, I saw the Dignity group break from the march to do some sort of action on the steps of St. Patrick's, but could not get close enough to see just what transpired. Before the march began, there were rumors that at a certain point there was going to be a sit-down protest of the situation (i.e., *the entire march* to halt and sit down for about ten minutes), but when I left at about 4:30 pm this still had not occurred. I did a little exploring of the length of the parade, but the thing was too large for me to encompass. Was impressed by the huge turnout of the Dignity group, chanting and singing as they went. NGTF had a balloon-covered float. A large replica of the Staten Island Ferry :-) sailed by. Saw a couple of marching bands, with baton twirlers, and a mummers band complete with the crazy silver Mardi Gras costumes and wailing saxophones. Not to mention drag queens on and off roller skates, someone got up convincingly as Boy George, and all sorts of All-American New York gays and lesbians dressed in New York style. I felt underdressed. I left at 4:30 because I had a five-hour drive yet to do that evening, so I did not get to see the rally at the end. Harvey Fierstein (of "Torch Song Trilogy") was to be a featured speaker, so I was disappointed. However, there was a human traffic jam in the Village as the parade crawled down Christopher Street, and I was too weary to fight my way through. As I said, acute sensory overload. All in all, it felt like a typical Manhattan experience to me--noisy, boisterous, draining, but fun. Next time I do this, I'm gonna stay overnight. Ellen Brenner ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!aruba!brenner