The Gay Liberation Network particpated in the March 20 anti-war rally. Pic by Charlsie Dewey_________
On March 20, over 4,000 people convened outside of Ogden Elementary School on the corner of Oak and State streets for an anti-war protest and march organized by the March 20th Troops Home Now Coalition, also known as the M-20 Coalition. The rally and march marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War. Over 100 organizations were present at the rally, which included several speeches, poetry and music as well as a march to Daley Plaza.
At 6:30 p.m., Andy Thayer—a member of the March 20th Troops Home Now Coalition, president of the Gay Liberation Network and member of the Chicago Coalition Against the War—addressed the crowd, saying, 'Last week we got a lesson in morality from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, who said that gay people couldn't have equal employment rights in the military because we're immoral. I say to Gen. Pace, anything we might do pales by comparison in immorality to the 650,000 Iraqis you and your cohorts have killed. That is immorality. We're here to say bring the troops home now. We're saying to both parties stop funding this war. No more war funding.'
For the next hour, several organization representatives spoke about the perceived need to stop the war; the need to stop the deaths of Iraqi and American men and women; President Bush's failed plans; and why they feel the war isn't working.
'George W. has never cared about the Iraqi people, about democracy or about freedom,' said Deyar Jamil, an Iraqi American Attorney and a member of St. Benedict Parish Social Justice Committee. 'We can see that by looking around us today as our civil liberties are eroded every year. Our elections are about financing and who can pay for the largest propaganda campaign … the right to life ends once a baby is born. George W. and the Christian right protect the fetus from abortion, but they do not protect the child from poverty, lack of quality education or from lack of health care. … We will not accept it.'
Juan Torres, a father whose son died fighting in Iraq, carried a sign with his son's picture on it and another with the head of the president on top of a skeleton holding a sign reading, 'You call this victory?' Torres spoke about his son's death and his experience of individuals devaluing his son's life because they emigrated from Argentina.
Aaron Hughes, an Iraq War veteran and a member of the Chicago Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, discussed his experience in Iraq and his disillusionment: 'When I came home, I didn't have a voice. I had a lot of people telling me what my story was, that I was a hero, while all I felt was guilty. I didn't do anything the military said we were going to do when we went over seas. I really want to help people, that's why I joined the National Guard, I went over there and instead of helping people, we didn't help anyone. ... When people say 'Support the troops,' it means support them in what they really believe, the reasons they probably signed up in the first place—for democracy, for freedom. That's why we're all here right, to support the troops. Bring them home now.'
The Vietnam Veterans Against the War also spoke at the rally, reminding people of the failed attempts to win the Vietnam War and the similarities that exist between that conflict and this war. Barry Romo, a Vietnam veteran, said, 'No matter how much you train a foreign army, as we learned in Vietnam, if the people you are training aren't willing to die and the people you're fighting are, you can't win. ... They're just throwing away lives.'
At 7:30 p.m., the crowd marched from Ogden School to Daley Plaza. There were police in riot gear lining the route, but the march remained peaceful.
