Gay Gatherings Removed from Video Footage at Lincoln Memorial
(Washington, D.C.) All images of gay gatherings at national sites, including the Millennium March on the Washington Mall have been ordered removed from videotapes that have been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 according to a civil service group.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) says that the directive came from National Parks Service Deputy Director Donald Murphy. Murphy is said to have been concerned about pictures in the video that showed same-sex couples kissing and holding hands after conservative groups complained.
The Millennium March held in 2000 to bring attention to LGBT civil rights issues drew tens of thousands of gays and their supporters to the mall for one of the biggest demonstrations since the civil rights and anti-war marches of the 1960s.
In their place, the Park Service is inserting scenes of the Christian group Promise Keepers and pro-Gulf War demonstrators though these events did not take place at the Memorial in what Murphy calls a “more balanced” version.
I happened to attend the GLBT Marches in Washington in 1987, 1993, and 2000. I’ll be looking into this issue some more.
UPDATE: According to this article, the footage of gay and lesbian gatherings will not be removed, but the historically inaccurate footage of anti-gay christian groups may still be added. Apparently the pressure to do this editing is coming from conservative Kansas Republican congressman Todd Tiahrt