Amid shouts of “Hey Obama, let momma marry momma,” a crowd of more than 200 community members marched to the Capitol Saturday to fight for equal rights in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
According to Char Hanson, march organizer and member of the Madison College Pride Alliance and OutReach, the march was a continuation of the one that took place in Washington, D.C., in October.
The main issues the organizers advocated for were overturning bans on same-sex marriage and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the United States Armed Forces, in addition to equal protection of civil rights and anti-discrimination rights for members of the LGBT community.
As the marchers progressed up State Street, many bystanders on the sidewalks displayed their support of the group with smiles, shouts and thumbs up.
On the steps immediately in front of the Capitol, Hanson was one of the main speakers, emphasizing the necessity for equal rights from the government to the LGBT community.
“Today I am issuing a challenge to our federal and our state governments to pass the laws in a non-arguable writing, to give us the equal rights that we have been fighting for,” Hanson said.
She also stressed the importance of presenting a unified front and of not giving up the battle for rights every person is guaranteed.
“We as a unified community must never stop until we have the equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that every citizen of the United States of America is promised,” Hanson said.
Hanson said those involved with the event want to keep the issues in the public eye and gain the attention of lawmakers, both in Wisconsin and at the federal level.
In addition, Hanson said the inequalities as deny members of the LGBT community basic human rights.
“The last time I checked, it’s not about skin color anymore,” Hanson said. “It’s about who we love, what we like, the way we express our own gender. … That is what is holding us back from being treated as human beings.”
Many of those in attendance agreed with Hanson, including University of Wisconsin freshman Brittany Simler. She said members of the LGBT community deserve equal rights because they cannot change who they are — it is part of their identity.
“I feel like [being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender] is something that people don’t choose … it’s who they are, so they should be protected,” Simler said.
Many groups were involved in the march including the International Socialist Organization, the UW chapter of LGBTI Equality Now!, Madison Area Transgender Association and groups from UW-Whitewater, among others.
Benjamin Daniels, a UW senior and member of ISO, said the march was important because it is essential that every individual have their rights ensured.
“Civil rights shouldn’t come for a vote,” Daniels said. “[They] should be guaranteed and protected on a federal level.”
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international socialist organization and gays? how quaint. i’ll take gays/lesbians/people who have no clue seriously when they don’t look like they dress themselves in the dark at their rally
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What are you talking about? They look like any other people out and about in 20 degree Wisconsin weather… except for the signs and flags… but that has more to do with attending a rally than dressing in the dark, I would bet.
And what’s this with grouping gays and lesbians with “people who have no clue”? Please, elaborate…
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The 90’s are over! Get off and go home! We are not going through this BS again! We put up with left-wing extremists for the last 15 years of the last century and we are not going back!
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We demand our civil rights now!
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We demand that you fuck off! You had your fun harassing everyone else back in the PC 90’s. We’re still a little pissed off about that shit, so don’t start it again. If you can’t fight for your rights without attacking innocent people on the street, you deserve no rights!
And don’t stand there acting stupid, like you don’t know what we’re talking about. You know damn well what we’re talking about!
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Thank you to everyone who showed up on Saturday to give their support!
No thank you to any cowards bashing our movement with anonymous homophobic comments! Sure, it’s your right to tell someone to ‘fuck off’, but we have the right to say it too when our rights are denied by our own government.
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Real mature, you ignorant jerk.
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“Real mature, you ignorant jerk.”
Not half as “mature” as some loud-mouth gay boy getting on a Metro bus and cussing his lungs out about the lousy day he had at work. True story, and there were children on the bus too.
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Really?
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Anyone else get the impression some anonymous bigot is having a conversation with herself (himself?)?
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Bingo. IP 7628d773 is busted.
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Haha I love the IP logging system. Nice try!
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Oh yeah, like IP logging does any good. It’s a security technique that hackers figured out how to compromise less than a week after it was invented. Hell, Windows 7 was the easiest OS to crack and you can even download from Windows Update without having to haggle with authentication. So what makes you think IP logging is so cool? And all a person has to do to cover their tracks is reboot before coming back. Everybody on the Internet knows that. Hey, if YOU buttholes at the BH can figure it out, ANYBODY can figure it out!
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It’s me again! Traced me down yet. I’ll give you a hint: I’m a student and both my posts were typed from a university-owned computer at an on-campus location.
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Gasp! A right-wing hater not familiar with how the internet works?
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Anyone with the IQ of Chris Crocker’s hairbrush knows how the Internet works. Are you familiar with how tolerance works? It goes like this: you don’t call me a hetero, breeder or closet case, or accuse me of being anti-gay when I haven’t even said anything, or make off-the-wall comments within earshot of a group of straights and hope they kick your butt so you can call the cops and scream “HATE CRIME!” and we won’t resort to becoming the “homophobic bigots” you wanted us to be all along. Deal?
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What I thought was really weird is when Ellen DeGeneres tucked away inside Taylor Swift’s dressing room-in the bathroom! I would have freaked out! I would have been like “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY DRESSING ROOM YOU FUCKING BITCH! I’M NOT ONE OF YOU!”
Of course, it would have been really funny if Taylor Swift had given her a black eye. Then Ellen would have to go on the air with her eye all puffed up and and explain how it happened. Her show would have had the highest ratings in the season for that show, but it would have been canceled the following week.
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Badger Herald, I want to know why the FUCK you are publishing these hateful comments.
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Being a student on campus, it is TERRIFYING to read these comments. Where the hell are you creeps holed up? It makes my blood run cold, reading your promises of violence. Let me tell you that the majority of this campus agrees with the marchers. You keep promising your violence towards anyone who is LGBTQ and/or transgendered, and that’s going to come right back to you. It’s about time this city stepped up on its fighting these kind of hateful actions with equal or greater action — namely, dropping your sorry, bigoted mouth to the ground.
Also, comparing an entire group of politically-charged, well-informed activists to the likes of a Chris Crocker or Perez Hilton is pathetic. Come to the table when you have a legitimate argument that functions somewhere above the Captain Underpants books.
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“Also, comparing an entire group of politically-charged, well-informed activists to the likes of a Chris Crocker or Perez Hilton is pathetic.”
Well, for starters, I don’t hear anyone in the LGBT corner telling these pansies to shut up. What are we supposed to think? Do they speak for you? Do they?
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We are everywhere. You can call us whatever names you want—bigot, hater, etc. We could give a shit less. PC is done.
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I thought we were supposed to be mature adults here. Learn some respect and grow up.
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Being gay or whatever you guys call it these days is just a god-damned fad. Get over yourselves, you’re not that important.
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“You keep promising your violence towards anyone who is LGBTQ and/or transgendered, and that�s going to come right back to you.”
That’s what the rest of us are worried about. Back in the PC 90’s, you jackasses attacked just about anyone and everyone. It didn’t matter if they said or did anything, you just took one look at them and wailed away. I remember seeing a straight white guy being harassed on a street corner down on State Street one evening in 1998. He was waiting to cross the street when a bunch of dykes just start spitting on him, telling him that all white males should be castrated. At the same time, I used to see black males all over downtown mouthing off about “fags” and “sissy-ass white homo muthafuckas” and no one would confront them about it, not even call the police. So who’s the enemy, the straight white males who aren’t even bothering anybody or the straight black males who bother everyone every chance they get? Why the double-standard?
BTW, there is a McDonald’s down in Florida where a 17-year-old transvestite named Zikerria Bellamy was not only not hired because of his sexual identity, but received an offensive voicemail from one of the managers. Guess what-the manager who left the voicemail is black, not a white male.
What the whole debate on this topic boils down to is this: the LGBT community has taken nothing but cheap shots at innocent people too much for too long. What’s the point in being tolerant if you are still going to call us homophobic bigots? You do it because it’s so easy to trash a person’s reputation to the point where they have no choice but to pack up and leave town. Well, those days are coming to an end. Fine, so you’re all a bunch of fruits and nuts! We don’t want to listen to you bitch and moan because people refuse to put up with another day of your antagonistic crap. If you can’t fight for a cause without stomping on innocent toes and taking cheap shots, then hang it up.
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I would stand up to bigotry whoever it was. This movement is not about bashing straight white people in general or exclusively. What happened in the past is not the fault of all gay people and their supporters in the movement today. I would not support the lesbian harassing that straight man although I do wonder if there is more to the story.
This in not about political correctness. This is about having the rights and benefits granted to straight people including being able to not legally get fired for being gay or transgendered. The right to marry and share insurance. Etc.
“Well, for starters, I don�t hear anyone in the LGBT corner telling these pansies to shut up. What are we supposed to think? Do they speak for you? Do they?”
What??? What an absurd comment. Do you have every statement made by a straight person in the spotlight ascribed to you until you deny it? This is just silly.
Also I have to second that hate speech is not protected free speech and should not be tolerated on the BH comment board.
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The LGBT right movement is also about fighting for the right to not be harassed or assaulted for your sexuality. It is not so abstract pc thing. It is about human rights.
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Why is everyone here talking about the “PC 90s?” How old are all of you? Are you just old professors or something? The generation of the student is on the side of the entire LGBT community. We aren’t “rubbing it in your face” or anything like that. We don’t approach you and yell at you for being a “bigot.” The march is to raise awareness to the parts of the straight community that are acting as bystanders. While it isn’t there fight, they need to help and join the movement. So many people say “Oh, I completely support LGBT rights,” but then that is all they do. We need votes and numbers and that is all the parade is about. Most of the people who seem anti-gay in the comments seem a bit insecure about themselves. Left wing extremists? Nice try, FOX News. What is so extreme about wanting to be created equally in this country?