Why We March
“Pride. In the name of love.”
I had the privilege to march as an ally with some of my LGBTQ+ friends here in Washington, DC yesterday. What a thrilling and hopeful moment to be surrounded by so many affirming bystanders, all of them joyfully celebrating the wonderful diversity of humanity. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
We even discussed that, given the recent signing of marriage equality, this Pride Parade felt particularly hopeful — that for a moment perhaps we’ve moved from marching for rights to more simple and merry festivity.
How appalling then to wake up to the news from Orlando. To wake up to the terror, the firepower, which seems to have been directed specifically at 50 lives simply seeking to celebrate that same diversity.
This is why we march. Why we keep marching. To celebrate that wonderful diversity, yes. But also to assert our common humanity. To resist terror and to refuse to cower before it. To insist upon equal treatment as human beings. To educate others as a way of resisting darkness and ignorance. And we keep marching until the darkness and ignorance is gone.
And then we keep marching to celebrate that defeat. And that wonderful moment for humanity.
Dupont Circle, Sunday, June 12, 2016
