April 25: Jews and the Gay Liberation March, 1993

More than 700,000 people attended the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation on this date in 1993. Urvashi Vaid, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the central organizer of the march (which was endorsed by the NAACP, among others), gave a shout-out to activist Jews from the podium: “It is fitting that the Holocaust Museum was dedicated the same weekend as this March,” she said, “for not only were gay people persecuted by the Nazi state, but gay people are indebted to the struggle of the Jewish people against bigotry and intolerance.” Among other speakers at the podium was Judith Light, a soap opera star (One Life to Live) and Tony Award-winning stage actor who has been a prominent gay rights ally and AIDS activist. Light, who is Jewish, straight and married, sits on the board of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and had a library named after her at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. She is the co-founder with Cyndi Lauper of the Give a Damn Campaign, which aims to convince straight people to stand up for LGBTQ rights and inclusion. Light also starred on the Ugly Betty television series, one of the most gay-positive comedy shows in history. To see her speaking out for straight solidarity with gay people, look below. “Bigotry or prejudice in any form is more than a problem; it is a deep-seated evil within our society.”—Judith Light