Description
The Bay Area March on Washington Committee met for many months before the March to organize a Bay Area contingent. The records
cover the period from 1986 to 1987 and consists of letters to and from those interested in attending the march, meeting minutes,
flyers, newspaper clippings and photographs.
Background
The Bay Area March on Washington Committee was organized to make sure that there would be a San Francisco presence at the
Washington March from October 9th to 13th, 1987. The Committee decided that it would back the goals and demands of the national
group, these included: 1) The legal recognition of lesbian and gay couples.; 2) the repeal of all laws that make sodomy between
consenting adults a crime; 3) a ban on anti-gay discrimination by the federal government; 4) passage of the congressional
lesbian and gay rights bill; 5) an end to discrimination against people with AIDS and people perceived to have AIDS; 6) a
massive increase in funding for AIDS education, treatment and research, with these monies to come out of the defense budget;
7) the right to reproductive freedom, an end to sexism, and the right to practice our sexuality freely; 8) an end to sexism
in the U.S. and racism in South Africa. In addition to the eight demands that the national group focused on, the Bay Area
group also chose to include issues of youth, senior gays and lesbians, groups with special physical needs, the S/M-leather
community, the transgendered community, and the bisexual community.