GLN ANNUAL MATTHEW SHEPARD MARCH NEWS
11th Annual Matthew Shepard March is now Saturday, October 17th
This year's Matthew Shepard March for LGBT Freedom was originally moved to downtown Chicago and slated as a protest against the Chicago concert of "Kill Gays" performer Buju Banton on October 1st. Since we have been successful in canceling this concert, we have moved the march back to its traditional location in Boystown and Wrigleyville, with a new date of October 17th. Here are the details:
7 PM
Saturday, October 17
Halsted & Roscoe 7 - 11
3407 N Halsted
GLN permalink posted 09-18-2009
The annual Shepard March memorializes the 1998 lynching of the gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, who came to symbolize the vicious hatred and violence that many Americans still harbor against LGBT people.
Each year since our founding that same year, the Gay Liberation Network has sought to use the march to highlight not only anti-LGBT violence, but the hatred and violations of civil rights which fuel it. Each year we choose a contemporary theme which illustrates this. Our theme this year is demanding that the justice system in Chicago adequately deal with police officers who violate the civil rights of LGBT people.
In particular, we are demanding that the City take action against Officer Richard Fiorito -- the subject of 20 federal lawsuits charging him with framing, and sometimes beating LGBT motorists in the heart of the Boystwon entertainment district. We demand that the police department put him on desk duty until the internal and external charges against him are adjudicated. Furthermore, given the extensive evidence showing probable cause of criminal wrongdoing, we demand that the Cook County States Attorneys Office press criminal charges such as Obstruction of Justice and Aggravated Battery
More details about this year's Matthew Shepard March will be forthcoming soon. Until then, please hold the date -- Saturday, October 17th.
