BRIAN DEWITT

MAY 14, 1993

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 13

Queer with a view

by Phil

I had not really planned on attending the March on Washington last month. Had it not been for an insistent friend I probably wouldn't have been there. Up to this point, I didn't know much about the March or what to expect. The mental pictures I had of marches involved band geeks in bad clothing playing "Staying Alive" on their tubas. My aforementioned friend was a flag dyke, a proud one I may add, in her high school marching band. This, I was sure, must have something to do with her burning desire to attend the march. Not me though, I wasn't about to become a queer geek of all things. I had my reputation to think of.

As April drew near, my boyfriend and I made last-minute plans to attend the march. We decided to make a week of it by touring other hot spots on the East Coast. First stop,

Birkenstock? What if I always had to pay $2.50 for a can of warm Coke?

I do have some favorite moments from the march I'd like to share. How great it was tucky at the FBI building tour. J. Edna to meet two Winnebago dykes from Kenwould have been so proud when the red ribbon pins they were selling set off the metal detector. "Sir, I mean ma'am, would you mind stepping back through?" How thorough. We watched as two very young African American boys with "I need a man" placards were being interviewed by a news station. They nervously fidgeted and fretted about their mothers seeing them on TV, all the while working the cameras.

Boys, take it from me, your mamas know.

In an event too surreal for television, we watched a group of Hare Krishnas singing and dancing when suddenly a rapping lesbian grabbed the mike and started her own

Franklin Burch, of Los Angeles, preceded the beginning of the March

Atlantic City, New Jersey's little Vegas. Where else could you find a limbless woman strapped to a gurney playing the Godfather theme on her keyboard with her tongue? Haunting yet daunting.

Next stop, Virginia Beach, where we froze our sweet patooties off. Williamsburg, wake me when its over, and Richmond charmed! Having more fun than we bargained for, we decided to head up to D.C. a day early and get a jump start on the festivities.

The early bird gets the worm so we descended upon Dupont Circle via the Metro on Friday afternoon. Funny, but everyone was smiling that "I know you are and so am I" smile. Too many men, too much cologne. Too many women, not enough Clinique. I knew we were in the right place. As the Metro moved closer to Dupont, it became quite apparent something special was happening. Pat Buchanan's worst nightmare was coming true. We are everywhere. So nice that all twenty thousand of us could get together at the same place at the same time. It is such an incredible spine-tingling experience being the majority. You couldn't

help but wonder: what if it were like this all the time? What if we were always so polite to one another? What if I can't wipe the smile off my face? What if I owned stock in

song. "I want to see you shake your booty," she sang as a Krishna grabbed his camcorder to film her. All at once the crowd, a couple hundred strong, broke into the Electric Slide. The Krishnas with their stylish peach Caftans awhirl soon joined in clanking their finger tambourines. Almost as enjoyable the night before, a similar event took place as hundreds of people did the bunny hop around Dupont fountain. Aren't we queers radical?

Over at Dupont, my friend and I grew curious to the sounds of a roaring crowd. Could it be CNN? Never ones to miss a photo opportunity, we scuttled to the scene of the clamor. Much to our surprise and delight we found thousands of queers cheering the arrival of more gays and lesbians as they ascended the huge escalator. From the top of the escalators the crowd would shout, "Kiss the cop," "Straight people kiss," or "Tattoo boys kiss" until those targeted on the escalator would do so. We decide to ride the escalator just for kicks. Unfortunately our own bittersweet chant of "Take off your pants" was unsuccessful. The police were great sports that night and throughout the whole weekend. One of their most difficult duties during the event right-wingers along the march route. Not came when they had to protect the religious an easy job considering there were five of them and a million of us. As they stood behind a barricade of police protection and shouted their hate and venom, I was drawn to a precipice directly above and behind the hate-mongers where a young fag was dancing to the chants of the crowd. As if to say "Fuck you, we are not going to let you intimidate us, or rain on our parade."

As the events died down, we all got a little somber realizing we had to go back home, back to work, back to the suburbs. It was a blast playing "spot the queer" on the drive back from D.C. We stopped a few times on the way back, meeting more queers each time. It was as if we owned the turnpike. How great with everyone laughing, smiling, honking their horns. I was now excited to return home for I knew it would think someone may be gay, I flash them a be different. Now whenever I remotely big smile and nine times out of ten, they

smile back. You see, it's a queer thing and we made them understand.

Sailor pleads guilty

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of failing to report a crime and resisting arrest. As part of a plea agreement to testify against Helvey, Vins received a four-month prison sentence. Vins originally was charged with murder.

Helvey said he could not remember all that happened during Schindler's beating because he was drunk.

Under questioning by Holcombe, he

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acknowledged kicking Schindler at least six times in the head and upper abdomen.

During the hourlong hearing, Helvey also pleaded guilty to assaulting two Navy shore patrolmen and to giving two false official statements to the Navy Criminal Investigative Service.

He pleaded innocent to a charge of obstructing justice. Holcombe has yet to rule on those pleas too.

Schindler told the Navy in September he

PHOTO BY LENNY GONZALEZ

ACT UP members struggle with police while raising ladder at PMA building.

Cleveland ACT UP joins zap of drug makers' lobby group

Cleveland ACT UP members joined in the crowd of more than 1,000 who staged a demonstration at the headquarters of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association (PMA) in Washington on April 23.

ACT UP has accused the pharmaceutical industry of adhering to profit-driven research, price gouging, corporate secrecy and inaction while allowing people to die. During the demonstration, activists scaled the building and hung bodies representing people with AIDS killed by drug company policies.

In a recent meeting with ACT UP, PMA President Jerry Mossinghoff has insisted that drug prices are justified and defended the companies' pace of research.

"The pharmaceutical companies have made millions of dollars off the suffering of people with AIDS, while 200,000 have died," said organizer B.C. Craig. "This demonstration marks the beginning of a national campaign to force the drug industry to treat AIDS with the urgency it warrants, and not just as another opportunity to fill their coffers." ACT UP Cleveland holds regular meetings at the Center.

Gay newspaper puts count at 750,000, using later photos

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by demonstration leaders are usually higher than those of government officials.

The Park Service based their figures on a grid system using aerial photographs of the Mall, Washington Monument grounds, and parade route, the latest of which was taken at 2:55 pm, when contingent number 16 of 98-was just preparing to step off. Other photos were taken at 10 am and 12 noon, before most people arrived.

The Washington Blade, the city's gay newspaper, made a crowd estimate of 750,000, using the Park Service's grid system, but using its own photos, taken at 4:30

pm from a plane flown by a gay pilots' group. Metro subway ridership and the time duration of the march also were used to arrive at the 750,000 figure.

Billy Hileman, a co-chair of the march, said the Park Service's method is flawed. He said the crowd may have been intentionally undercounted to dilute the impact of the march.

Collier said he decided to review the counting methods because of research presented by the march committee, particularly a comparison of the gay demonstration and a National Organization for Women rally last year.

The 'official' counts

However they may be disputed, by Park Service counts, only three other marches or rallies in nation's capital drew more than the April 25 March on Washington. It is one of 15 events, listed below, drawing 200,000 or more people to the capitol, according to Park Service crowd estimates the 1987 Lesbian-Gay

Vietnam War moratorium rally, Nov. 15, 1969: 600,000 Vietnam War "Out Now" rally, April 24, 1971: 500,000 National Organization for Women march and rally, April 5, 1992: 500,000 Lesbian, Gay, Bi March on Washington, April 25, 1993: 300,000 (organizer estimate: 1.1 million).

March on Washington is another one. (The first Lesbian-Gay March on Washington, on October 14, 1979, was estimated by the Park Service at 70,000, and by organizers at 200,000.)

The earlier events, including the two Vietnam War rallies, were counted using a different method than the one now used.

20th anniv.civil rights march,

Aug. 20, 1983: 300,000 NOW abortion rights march, April 9, 1989: 300,000 Solidarity Day labor march, Sept. 19, 1981: 260,000 Martin Luther King civil rights march, Aug. 28, 1963: 250,000 Solidarity Day labor march, Aug. 31, 1991: 250,000 March on the Pentagon, Oct. 21, 1967: 200,000

was gay, and was awaiting discharge when he was killed.

Schindler, formerly of Chicago Heights, Ill., was so badly battered that his mother, Dorothy Hajdys, had to identify him by tattoos on his arm. She said his head was caved in, his genitals mutilated, and all but

Washington for Jesus rally, April 29, 1980: 200,000 Martin Luther King Holiday rally, Jan. 15, 1981: 200,000 Lesbian and Gay March on Washington, Oct. 11, 1987: 200,000 (organizer estimate: 600,000) Abortion rights march, Nov. 12, 1989: 200,000

Anti-abortion march, April 28, 1990: 200,000.

two ribs were broken.

"I'm glad he finally admitted to what he did, which was to kill my son," Hajdys said from her home in Chicago Heights. Hajdys said she would be satisfied if Helvey received life in prison. She said she opposes the death penalty for him.