Gays go on the march in Washington

By Richard G. Zimmerman

Plain Dealer bureau

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WASHINGTON This may be the capital of the United States. It also may have become the Gay Capital of America.

So it probably is appropriate that what has been billed as "the gay rights event of the decade" will take place here today: a march from the Capitol to the Washington Monument organized by the National Gay Task Force.

It is estimated that up to 10% of the U.S. population is homosexual.

Organizers of the march have no idea how many will turn out. Some promoters optimisticly predict a crowd of 100,000. Capitol police are planning for 25,000. The

throng could be much smaller.

And not all gays are wholeheartedly in favor of this particular march. Some fear it is not well organized enough to represent the entire spectrum of the gay community and will bring out a preponderance of the more exotic gays drag queens, chain-andleather types in their particular distinctive "uniforms," and others with whom the straight community cannot easily identify.

"I'm sorry the march is going to happen," said James Zais, an official of the Washington-based Urban Institute and a local gay activist. "I may not be very representative and a small turn-out will back up all the Anita Bryants in the country who argue that we are only a small, unimportant segment of

America."

But Zais will be a part of the march because he has "a tremendous loyalty to all gay people."

Zais also feels American gays should work more toward improving social attitudes rather than seeking changes in the legal structure.

Charles Brydon, the coexecutive of the New York-based National Gay Task Force and an organizer of the march, contends that the gay community should have definate legislative ends in mind.

Among the goals set by the march organizers are:

Changes in child custody and adoption laws to permit homosexuals the same rights now enjoyed by hetrosexuals.

• Support of legislation to add "sexual orientation" to all sections of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 barring job and housing discrimination;

• Defeat of a pending "sense of the Congress" resolution putting that body on record against all gay rights legislation;

• Changes in rather hazy immigration laws that now seem to permit minor border officials to turn away any person they merely suspect of being a homosexual.

While gay activists such as Zais, Brydon, and Lucia Valeska, another co-executive of the task force, may disagree on both means and ends, they all agree on one issue: The Nation's Capital, "everyone's second home town," is a very hospita-

ble place for gay Americans.

One of the major speakers at today's march will be D.C. Mayor Marion Berry. Like most elected officials here, Berry is aware that Washington gays are well organized and politically sophisticated.

Berry openly caters to the gay voters, as do most others in office, including Walter Fauntroy, D.C. delegate to Congress and an ordained minister,

"In Washington, the political sophistication among gay voters is equal to that in Los Angeles," Brydon said. While he doesn't know if Washington's gay population is larger than the estimated 10% of the total population, he does feel that gay Washington voters comContinued on Page 3