March on Washington for Lesbian & Gay Rights

Black and white text on a pink background

The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a political rally held in October of 1987 as a follow-up to the 1979 March on Washington. The Pink Triangle, once a Nazi symbol of homosexuality, had been rebranded as a symbol for gay pride and was used on a variety of paraphernalia, including buttons.

Some 200,000 participants turned out for the march, more than double that of the one in 1979. Participants were protesting a number of laws they felt discriminated against homosexuals and were calling for an increase in Federal funds to adequately address the AIDS epidemic. They also sought to amend the Civil Rights Act to include protection against discrimination based on a person’s “affectional and sexual orientation.” A number of public figures, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Dan Bradley, a former White House aide, spoke at the march, which was endorsed by more than one thousand elected officials. Similar marches were held in 1993, 2000, and 2009.