HRC On The March On Washington

I've asked some major LGBT rights organizations to issue a statement saying whether they support the proposed March On Washington in 2009. HRC's Joe Solmonese responds:

“We shouldn’t wait until October for a march in Washington to do the critical grassroots organizing that can happen today. As we understand it, the purpose behind the call for a march is to organize grassroots representation from every congressional district in the country and encourage people to organize in their home districts. We encourage such efforts, but believe that organizing doesn’t need to wait until October, in fact, it can begin today. On an on-going basis, at the Human Rights Campaign, we work to do exactly this type of organizing. And groups like Join the Impact and the Courage Campaign have shown how effective this type of grassroots action can be in organizing young people to do their part at home in their districts, where it matters most,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

After receiving the above statement, I asked for a more definitive answer. Solmonese called me and said of the concept of another MOW, "You might as well ask me what I think of medicine," meaning that such activism can be either a good or a bad thing, depending on the circumstance. He and I talked about the lack of the National Mall's availability on that day, the fact that Congress will not be in session on the week in question, and whether in the age of digital activism, local grassroots work might be more effective than any national show of numbers. Solmonese could not say whether HRC would advise its members to support or attend a MOW, as its actual occurence is not yet assured.

Formal responses from other national LGBT orgs are in the works and I'll post them here as soon as I have them.