Broadway Attends the 2009 Equality March and Rally

On Sunday, October 11th, over 150,000 people descended on the nation’s capital to support equal rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. Numerous Broadway celebrities were part of this effort, adding their voices to the cause that had approximately 1,400 people under the Broadway Impact banner alone. Broadway stars like Cynthia Nixon, Gavin Creel, Celia Keenan Bolger & John Ellison Conlee, Audra McDonald, Marisa Jaret Winokur, B.D. Wong, Jonathan Groff and more (as well as theater companies like Ars Nova) sponsored Broadway Impact buses to bring marchers from New York to DC.

The buses departed New York a little after 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, and arrived in DC at around 10 a.m. The bus sponsors also purchased DC subway cards for the Broadway Impact marchers to get to the meeting place, making the event completely free for everyone in the group. As other groups from around the country converged in the area, Broadway Impact gathered with their banner and slowly began making their way down the streets. Perhaps somewhat inspirationally, as the march began to pick up speed, a real rainbow appeared in the sky overhead.

Among the crowd were numerous Broadway and cabaret faces, chanting and cheering as they marched around the city towards the front lawn of Congress.

After marching for two miles through the city, the protestors gathered on the lawn of the Capitol building to listen to emotional speeches. From the Broadway Impact team, Cynthia Nixon praised the efforts of New York Representative Jerrold Nadler to repeal what she called the “hateful, discriminatory and absurdly named Defense of Marriage Act.” (DOMA, a federal law passed in 1996, states that “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife,” and that other states are not required to recognize the legality of same-sex marriages performed in other states.) Nixon called on every marcher and listener “to do everything in his or her power to see that Jerry’s bill is passed, and that DOMA is finally repealed.” 

Judy Shepard, mother of murdered gay student Matthew Shepard, earned what was possibly the loudest ovation of the afternoon when she stepped up to the podium. Speaking for a brief two minutes, she praised the marchers for the “wonderful message” they were sending “to the country,” and urged the gathered crowd to continue the fight when they returned home through education and action. “I’m here today because I lost my son to hate,” she said, and added that were he still alive, she would still be telling people that “no one has the right to tell my son…whether or not he can live where he wants to live, or be with the one person he loves. We are all Americans. We are all equal Americans—gay, straight, whatever.”

Music star Lady Gaga declared that being a part of the rally was “the single most important moment of [her] career,” praising the work of gay rights advocates going back to the Stonewall riots. (“And you know I love Judy Garland,” she quipped.) “The younger generation—my generation… must continue to push this movement forward and close the gap. We must demand full equality for all. They say that this country is free. They say that this country is equal, but it is not equal if it is [only equal] sometimes.” She then addressed President Obama, who did not attend the rally but spoke at events on Saturday. “Are you listening?” Lady Gaga screamed into the microphone to cheers from the crowd. “We will continue to push you and your administration to bring your words of promise to reality.”

As the event drew to a close, the cast of Broadway's Hair gathered to sing several rousing choruses of "Let The Sunshine In," a bright anthem from a show that elected to close for a day so that the cast could join in the march and rally. Rainbow flags were raised above the crowd for the song, and many marchers sang along with gusto. It was a strong way to re-energize the crowd for the last leg of the event, especially for those who had been up since before dawn, and would not be returning home until close to midnight.

Stay tuned for more photos of the day from Jenna!