While organizers for the Millennium March on Washington say they are counting the days until the event, they shy away when discussing actual numbers that will descend on Washington come late April.


March on Washington, 1993.

Since there is no formal registration for the March, coordinators have no way to accurately determine how many people will attend. With large city contingencies reporting their numbers later this month, executive director Dianne Hardy-Garcia said they remain in the dark on attendance figures at this point.

But half a million people are anticipated, a number based on previous Marches on Washington, Hardy-Garcia said. Earlier marches have essentially doubled in size each time, and in '93, the official count U.S. Park Service estimate was around 350,000, according to organizers.

Others point to the difficulty in attaining accommodations within the District, but the March director hesitantly relies on such stories in making guesses about attendance. "I don't think the hotel reservations are the way to count, because we're having administrative issues," said Hardy-Garcia, referring to problems with the March's travel agency. "[Washington] D.C. Accommodations, which is being overwhelmed with requests, is not being able to make reservations. We're trying to resolve that as fast as we can."

Washington D.C. Accommodations, a 15-year-old hotel reservation service, has sold about 25 percent of the rooms dedicated to the March, Hardy-Garcia said. "I know that we're not nearly where we want to be, but I don't think it's because of a lack of interest. I think it's an administrative problem that we've got."

The director, who also directs the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, said the March coordinators are getting a more accurate grasp on the event's interest from the correspondence they are receiving. This week, the headquarters handled over a thousand requests for posters and March literature.

"We also need some help getting the word out, because the office is getting swamped," said Hardy-Garcia, adding that the official Millennium March Web site (www.mmow.org) had 30,000 hits last week and emails average 700 daily. "We're not able to process as much information as we'd like to, and that's the biggest indicator that this event is going to be huge."

Hardy-Garcia has touted all along that the Internet would benefit the organizers, but she may have underestimated how significant the accompanying workload would be, she said.

"I remember in '93, when I wanted to go to the March, the only thing I ever had in my hand was a flier that had been run off on a copy machine. That's all I ever saw about it," Hardy-Garcia said. "But now, we're just an information hungry community, and we're used to getting access to all this information all the time. People want as much information as they can get, and we are just not able to answer their requests as quick as we'd like."

Dallas-based organizers say 3,000 people have requested information via the local group's email address, mmowdfw@aol.com.

United Airlines, the official airline of the March, would not reveal information regarding the number of seats sold in connection with the special March discount code, but spokesman Mario Baldassari said some flights had sold out. United recommends that customers book early to guarantee availability, Baldassari added, noting that D.C. would be a popular destination for the April 29-30 weekend. March planners, anticipating a number of groups will bus into the capital, are issuing parking permits. Parking spaces for 400 buses have been reserved. Besides the March and rally on Sunday, April 30, dozens of related meetings, conferences and parties will be taking place around the city. "We've got about 50 affiliated events, and I think that's a big indicator," Hardy-Garcia said.

The Human Rights Campaign concert, Equality Rocks, with a line-up of over 10 major celebrities and artists, looks to fill RFK Stadium - 55,683 seats. Although HRC communications director David Smith wouldn't divulge specifics, he said sales were going briskly. "They are definitely meeting expectations, and we expect the event to sell out."

As the March organizers enter the final stretch of what has been a race riddled with internal strife and bouts of sharp criticism from self-labeled outsiders, they are confident that the event will be a success, Hardy-Garcia said. They know that the challenge now is answering everyone's inquiries and getting them excited.

"I think it's going to be an incredible weekend," Hardy-Garcia said. "I'm freaking out about the requests for information. Clearly, we've got a big job to do, and I feel people are getting interested in the March in a bigger way."

from Gay Financial Network.


Barney Frank's Lobbying Tips
Barney Frank is an openly gay Massachusetts Congressman.

As a long-time participant in, and observer of, congressional politics, Barney knows what kind of activism works with his colleagues -- and what doesn't. What he gives us is a primer that will debunk conventional wisdom among gay and lesbian activists -- and offer hope that there's more than one way to win our rights.

Tip #1: Don't keep escalating your demands needlessly; you'll price yourself out of the market.

Tip #2: Enlist your straight friends and relatives. Gays and lesbians have a natural advantage here: Many more of us have straight relatives than, for example, black people who have white relatives. Let's not dismiss our privilege.

Tip #3: Recognize that protests and marches were the responses of those who could *not* vote. Voting beats marching.

Tip #4: If you do insist on being in-your-face, don't confuse the right to self-expression with sound political strategy -- eg. if you're going to wear a dog collar on Capitol Hill, you'll wind up offending the very people you're supposedly trying to win over. Not only is that a dumb choice; it's an immoral choice because it means that real people who need real protection from homophobia could be dismissed thanks to tactics like this ...

Tip #5: Understand that the average American is not homophobic; he just thinks he's supposed to be.