Hundreds attended Sunday’s ‘Equality March for Unity and Pride on Madison,’ a sister march to dozens held across the country.
Demonstrators marched from Library Mall to the Capitol Square in an event that was part pride parade, part political protest. Many of the marchers held signs in opposition to Republican President Donald Trump.
The march also came at an emotional time for the LGBTQ community. Monday marks the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shootings, an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that claimed 49 lives.
Each victim was honored at the Madison march.
For Tarik Akbik, the day is even more emotional. He spoke in honor of his friend Jerald A. Wright, who he knew from his time living in Orlando.
“Him and I, we worked together down in Florida and we were friends outside of work, so it struck me pretty hard when I found out about that,” Akbik said. “Jerry was always a giving person, he was always the nicest person to everyone at work and outside of work I’ve never seen him say a bad thing about anyone. He was very involved in charities.”
Marcher Beth Clarke described the Pulse shooting as her “catalyst” for attending the march.
“To know that someone’s life was lost for no reason other than hate, that’s something I feel like I have to fight against,” Clarke said.
they wanted to send a message. Jonathan Murray, a UW-Madison student, came out just a year ago and said that he came to help defeat negative stereotypes.
“I want to show that it is OK to be gay and also that stereotypes don’t matter,” Murray said. “You don’t have to change who you are.”
Catherine Hartup, from Baraboo but living in Madison for the summer, said turbulent times motivated her to attend Sunday’s march.
“I feel like in the last year, everything’s been really tumultuous, there’s been a lot of negative energy,” Hartup said. “I just think pride is a really, really important thing to keep continuing in this sort of environment and just showing everyone that we’re here and we’re not going away.”
Akbik’s message: togetherness.
“I hope they see the togetherness of this community as well as all the minority communities to see that they’re people just like everyone else,” he said.
Numerous Democratic elected officials, including Madison-area state representatives Melissa Sargent and Chris Taylor, spoke at the march. They and other speakers urged marchers to not just show up to events like these, but become part of the political process.
