On the heels of last weekend’s Women’s March on Washington, a gay activist in New York City has set in motion plans for a National Pride March on Washington on June 11, which he hopes will draw hundreds of thousands of people.
David Bruinooge, 42, a Brooklyn, N.Y., resident, said he was inspired to create a Facebook event page announcing the march on Jan. 21 while he was watching the Women’s March on Washington at home.
“I was watching the events unfold on TV and I was very proud and inspired by all the women, the strong women in our country who were kind of taking this to the street and getting their voices heard,” he told the Washington Blade. “And in the back of my mind as an openly gay man I thought the gay community should be doing something like this to follow up on the momentum.”
“This will be an ALL-inclusive and peaceful event,” reads the announcement on Facebook.
The Washington Blade adds:
Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes the D.C. Pride events, including the Pride Parade set to take place on June 10, said he has spoken with Bruinooge and expects that Capital Pride officials will collaborate with the march organizers so the march and the D.C. Pride events will complement each other.
He acknowledges he and others working on the march will have a significant amount of work to do logistically, including obtaining permits for street closings. He said he’s hopeful that Capital Pride officials will provide support and consider the march to be a joint Capital Pride project.
The last major LGBT protest held in D.C. was the National Equality March in 2009. The march drew hundreds of thousands of protesters who demanded full equality for LGBTQ people in all matters of civil law. Only five states had legal same-sex marriage at that time.
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