|
||||||
|
||||||
Gay Rights March On Washington Famous Speech by Urvashi Vaid
|
|
|
|
|
Gay Rights March On Washington Famous Speech by Urvashi Vaid
April 25, 1993
Hello lesbian and gay
Americans. I am proud to stand before you as a lesbian today. With hearts
full of love and the abiding faith in justice, we have come to Washington
to speak to America. We have come to speak the truth of our lives and
silence the liars. We have come to challenge the cowardly Congress to end
its paralysis and exercise moral leadership. We have come to defend our honor and win our equality. But most of all we have come in peace and with
courage to say, "America, this day marks the end from exile of the gay and
lesbian people. We are banished no more. We wander the wilderness of
despair no more. We are afraid no more. For on this day, with love in our
hearts, we have come out, and we have come out across America to build a
bridge of understanding, a bridge of progress, a bridge as solid as steel,
a bridge to a land where no one suffers prejudice because of their sexual
orientation, their race, their gender, their religion,
or their human difference."
I have been asked by the March organizers to speak in five minutes about
the far right, the far right which threatens the construction of that
bridge. The extreme right which has targeted everyone of you and me for
extinction. The supremacist right which seeks to redefine the very meaning
of democracy. Language itself fails in this task, my friends, for to call
our opponents "The Right," states a profound untruth. They are wrong -
they are wrong morally, they are wrong spiritually, and they are wrong
politically.
The Christian supremacists are wrong spiritually when they demonize us.
They are wrong when they reduce the complexity and beauty of our spirit
into a freak show. They are wrong spiritually, because, if we are the
untouchables of America -- if we are the untouchables -- then we are, as
Mahatma Gandhi said, children of God. And as God's children we know that
the gods of our understanding, the gods of goodness and love and
righteousness, march right here with us today.
The supremacists who lead the anti-gay crusade are wrong morally. They are
wrong because justice is moral, and prejudice is evil; because truth is
moral and the lie of the closet is the real sin; because the claim of
morality is a subtle sort of subterfuge, a stratagem which hides the real
aim which is much more secular. Christian supremacist leaders like Bill
Bennett and Pat Robertson, Lou Sheldon and Pat Buchanan, supremacists like
Phyllis Schlafley, Ralph Reid, Bill Bristol, R.J., Rushoodie -- the
supremacists don't care about morality, they care about power. They care
about social control. And their goal, my friends, is the reconstruction of
American Democracy into American Theocracy.
We who are gathered here today must prove the religious right wrong
politically and we can do it. That is our challenge. You know they have
made us into the communists of the nineties. And they say they have
declared cultural war against us. It's war all right. It's a war about
values. On one side are the values that everyone here stands for. Do you
know what those values are? Traditional American values of democracy and
pluralism. On the other side are those who want to turn the Christian
church in government, those whose value is monotheism.
We believe in democracy, in many voices co-existing in peace, and people
of all faiths living together in harmony under a common civil framework
known as the United States Constitution. Our opponents believe in
monotheism. One way, theirs. One god, theirs. One law, the Old Testament.
One nation supreme, the Christian Right one. Let's name it. Democracy
battles theism in Oregon, in Colorado, in Florida, in Maine, in Arizona,
in Michigan, in Ohio, in Idaho, in Washington, in Montana, in every state
where , my brothers and sisters, are leading the fight to oppose the Right
and to defend the United States Constitution. We won the anti-gay measure
in Oregon, but today 33 counties -- 33 counties and municipalities face
local versions of that ordinance today. The fight has just begun. We lost
the big fight in Colorado, but, thanks to the hard work of all the people
of Colorado, the Boycott Colorado movement is working and we are strong.
And we are going to win our freedom there eventually.
To defeat the Right politically, my friends, is our challenge when we
leave this March. How can we do it? We've got to march from Washington
into action at home. I challenge everyone of you, straight or gay, who can
hear my voice, to join the national gay and lesbian movement. I challenge
you to join NGLTF to fight the Right. We have got to match the power of
the Christian supremacists, member for member, vote for vote, dollar for
dollar. I challenge each of you, not just buy a T-shirt, but get involved
in your movement. Get involved! Volunteer! Volunteer! Every local
organization in this country needs you. Every clinic, every hotline, every
youth program needs you, needs your time and your love.
And I also challenge our straight liberal allies, liberals and
libertarians, independent and conservative, republican or radical. I
challenge and invite you to open your eyes and embrace us without fear.
The gay rights movement is not a party. It is not lifestyle. It is not a
hair style. It is not a fad or a fringe or a sickness. It is not about sin
or salvation. The gay rights movement is an integral part of the American
promise of freedom.
We, you and I, each of us, we are the descendants of a proud tradition of
people asserting our dignity. It is fitting that the Holocaust Museum was
dedicated the same weekend as this March, for not only were gay people
persecuted by the Nazi state, but gay people are indebted to the struggle
of the Jewish people against bigotry and intolerance. It is fitting that
the NAACP marches with us, that feminist leaders march with us, because we
are indebted to those movements.
When all of us who believe in freedom and diversity see this gathering, we
see beauty and power. When our enemies see this gathering, they see the
millennium. Perhaps the Right is right about something. We call for the
end of the world as we know it. We call for the end of racism and sexism
and bigotry as we know it. For the end of violence and discrimination and
homophobia as we know it. For the end of sexism as we know it. We stand
for freedom as we have yet to know it, and we will not be denied.
A short quote or
citation from part of the Gay Rights March On Washington famous speech provides an
illustration of, or allusion to, the famous events of the day during
the historical era of Urvashi Vaid. Use the free Gay Rights March On Washington famous speech with
passages and text taken as direct citations from this famous speech
using the language used by Urvashi Vaid in their own language within
the content of the speech. This well-known speech by Urvashi Vaid,
famed for its powers of verbal and oral communication, makes
excellent use of the words, text and language. Use of native tongue
of Urvashi Vaid within this famous speech makes it powerful and relevant to
historic occasions. A persuasive, motivational and inspirational
speech by Urvashi Vaid. The celebrated Urvashi Vaid had excellent powers of oration
which are highlighted forever in History by the Gay Rights March On Washington famous speech.
Gay Rights March On Washington Famous Speech by Urvashi Vaid
|
|
