National Mall Already Booked On Planned Weekend Of March On Washington

Duncan Osborne at Gay City News has discovered that the National Mall in Washington DC has already been booked by three other groups for the weekend suggested for a 2009 March On Washington.

The organizers of the proposed march on Washington should have checked with the National Parks Service before they began announcing the October dates for that event. "It's unavailable," a parks service staffer said when Gay City News asked if the National Mall was booked on October 10, 11, and 12, the dates that some organizers have announced for the march. Three different organizations have permits to hold events on those days on the National Mall, the setting for the gay community's four prior national marches. Collectively, the three groups are expecting in excess of 135,000 people, which would mean that even if the organizers of the proposed march could get a permit -- and it is doubtful that they could as most groups file for a permit a year in advance -- the gay marchers would be joining a three-day walk-a-thon against breast cancer, a Treasury Department event, and the Million Man March for God.

Even if MOW organizers could still somehow get a permit, it seems unlikely that many would support an event without the dramatic impact of our huge presence on the National Mall.