"Spirit of Stonewall" / Act-Up & Stonewall Gay Pride March


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"Stonewall 25"

====Spirit of Stonewall March====

Manhattan, New York
Sunday, June 26th
1994

Stonewall Act Up 1994

The historic 25th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion saw not one but two Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender ("GLBT") marches in New York City. The "Spirit of Stonewall March" -- marching from the original Stonewall Club on Christopher Street across Waverly Place through part of Greenwich Village and then, from the Washington Square Arch, all the way up Fifth Avenue and into Central Park at the Avenue of the Americas entrance -- was the real Stonewall March. This march was sponsored by ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power), the STONEWALL Veterans' Association ("S.V.A."), the Imperial QUEENS & Kings of New York ("IQKNY"), the GLBT Political Coalition and relatively few other GLBT organizations. "It is the Gay Pride march that virtually everyone said ....could never and would never happen". The S.V.A., under the leadership of Williamson Henderson, declared and promised that the march would happen one way or another with or without arrests. The march did happen and it happened big time! Uniquely, this march had one only vehicle and it was led by that one vehicle: the classic and historic 1969 blue Cadillac convertible "Stonewall Car". This monumental event in a word, to quote a number one Diana Ross & The Supremes' song of The Stonewall, "The Happening".

ACT-UP, at its zenith, was the driving force in making this alternate march happen. Unlike the 'official' committee, ACT-UP had teh approach of total inclusion of, respect for and consideration of the veterans of the Stonewall Rebellion -- the sole reason that there is a "Stonewall 25". The bottom Gay line was that both marches converged at the main gates to Central Park to evolve into the biggest GLBT Pride Rally in history!

"STONEWALL 25" Brochure of the 'Official' "L.G.B.D.T." March on the United Nations

Queer Note: They incredulously referred to the community as "L.G.B.D.T."! These soupy letters are shamefully historically wrong and chronologically inaccurate -- especially on a long-awaited anniversary day of celebrating our true history. "Stonewall" the rebellion and the civil rights movement that was launched was inclusively about "Gay Rights", "Gay Power" and "Gay Unity" not Alphabet Soup created a decade later by bored and boring revisionists. And, what in their "LGBDT" what the hell is the "D"? Divorced? No! Dyke? No! It's Drag"! OMG! They were more whacked than we knew.... Can you imagine that people allegedly in the "community" -- though from California -- didn't know that "drag" (an unappealing word by itself) is considered part of the "Transgender" community? Obviously, not! Read their brochure.

To "celebrate" (as in steal) the Silver Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, this 'official', bureaucratically-organized, self-serving, well-funded, ad hoc, clandestine group thought of just about everything -- except the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion Veterans! Very little honors the people who vreated the "pride". This oddly concocted group -- an enpanded version of the Heritage of Pride with some of the same cast -- used "our" event to rake in endless cash for themselves from Gay people and our supporters from all around the world but zilch for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender ("GLBT") organization -- the STONEWALL Veterans' Association ("S.V.A."). The S.V.A. represents the people, living and deceased, who actually made this historic event happen in the first place. In fact, "the committee" did not even offer "gas money" (about $19.69) to fill up the tank of the historic 1969 "Stonewall Car" which led the alternative Stonewall march to Central Partk. Stop! They didn't even invite the car! This ad-hoc group was so smart that they 'voted' to hold the 'protest' against the symbolic United Nations on a Sunday -- when the U.N. is always "closed". We remember the era (not long ago) when Gay people still had a reputation for being smart and courageous. Marching on a place when you know it's closed is really ineffective and simply stupid. There is absolutely no other explanation or excuse. For example, "Oh, we couldn't get a permit for a Monday". Hunh? Really? The "alternate Gay march" didn't have an authorized 'permit' for any day! In fact, we had no permit! Yet, we happened.... big time!!


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