National Gay Mobilizing Committee for a March on Washington, May 1973-December 1973

Under Construction

The Cast - Major players identified. Actual historical figures on left.

Jeff Graubart, GLF activist, YSA member, Coordinator NGMC, Narrator	Dave Rosen
William Stanley, GLF activist, YSA member, NGMC member	Winston Stanfield III
Roger Walther, President GLF and NGMC	Roger Hamilton
Wayne Sunday, GAA Secretary, YSA member, NGMC supporter	Zach Doubleday
John O'Brien, GAA member, SWP member, NGMC supporter	Austin O'Rourke
Garret Gray, Leader, Illinois Gays for Legislative Action	Larry Gulian
All other LGBT activists mentioned, some with minor speaking roles	Real Names Used

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Keeping my Demons at Bay

Having won some points with the national and regional offices of the Young Socialist Alliance and Socialist Workers Party for my strong showing (by revolutionary socialist standards) in the Urbana Mayoral race, and by this time completely obsessed with the fight for gay liberation as the only way to keep away my demons, I decided to call in my marker with the YSA and push them to provide the infrastructure for a gay and lesbian march on Washington.

Not only were LGBT people suspicious, at best, of revolutionary socialists and vice versa, but I was not well-known on a national level as either a gay activst or a revolutionary socialist. However, sometimes audacity and naivete can make for good history.

Dramatization of Early Discussion between Bill Stanley and Jeff Graubart on Washington march A fictionalized account to show my state of mind.

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The IGLA Conference in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois

Urbana failed to pass the gay rights bill as I had assumed and instead threw the bill into the Committee on Legislation. At this point, the Washington march was just beer talk at Bill Stanley's, although, on one drunken occasion, he called a gay YSA comrade in New York who supported the idea.

Bill Stanley and I both supported a march on the Illinois State Capitol, Springfield, and we planned on bringing that up at a statewide meeting of a group based out of Chicago called, Illinois Gays for Legislative Action, although Bill was certain they would defeat the proposal without the Urbana victory to give creedence to our style of direct action politics.

Dramatization of Bloomington-Normal IGLA Conference I am uncertain how much of this dramatization is fiction and how much is fact. IGLA did endorse the march on Springfield and I did mention the false assertion that the SWP/YSA were considering building a gay and lesbian march on Washington.

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Mission to New York

With the prospect of a march on Washington with resources provided by the SWP and YSA in the public eye, Bill Stanley and Jeff Graubart travel to New York in late May to get a sense of support from the New York comrades and to get the reaction from the nations largest and most militant gay organization, the New York Gay Activist Alliance (GAA).

Dramatization of Trip to New York The dramatization is intended to be accurate. Bruce Voeller, preseident of GAA, whose real name is used, said a lot more about the march and conference than the one line attributed to him, all of it negative. The discussions with and about Steve Endean, whose real name is used, happened as was reported to the best of my recollection. A few other YSA comrades and GAA members who joined us for dinner were omitted from the novel for conciseness.The dramatization will be reviewed by Wayne Sunday for historical corrections before the March deadline.