WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a statement released to the Washington Blade, veteran lesbian activist Robin Tyler says she is talking to LGBT leaders across the country about a possible national march on Washington in May 2012.
Tyler, who is based in Los Angeles, said she first proposed the idea of a 2012 march in the weeks following President Obama’s election in 2008.
Tyler, who believes in direct action, said, “The fact is, without continuous protests that Get Equal, Dan Choi, Robin McGhee and others did, I believe, as so many others do, that DADT would not have been struck down.”
The main objection by some activists to holding another national march is it would take away resources and divert attention from needed LGBT activism in the states. At the time the 2009 LGBT march was being planned, skeptics said it would have little impact on members of Congress who don’t support LGBT rights.
Critics believe that a more effective way to prompt action by Congress would be visible activity and lobbying by constituents from lawmakers’ homes states rather than a march or rally in Washington.
But Tyler believes the process of organizing a national march would trigger more activity in the states than what is currently taking place under the leadership of both state and national LGBT groups.
“… large national marches on Washington, which take over a year to do on that scale, produce activists and activity from every state,” she said.
Fred Sainz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said, “We have met with Robin Tyler and have listened to her ideas about a march. Beyond that, we haven’t formulated an opinion one way or the other.”
Veteran LGBT and AIDS activist Cleve Jones, the lead organizer and spokesperson for the 2009 march, could not be reached for comment on Tyler’s proposed 2012 march.
