ceived a standing ovation.

The march had an unusual twist to it. Unidentified individuals with cameras and microphones stopped marchers along the route to ask for whom who they planned to vote in the upcoming Governor's race. Uncautiously, the overwhelming majority of the marchers said "Celeste." That fall, the Rhodes for Governor campaign used advertising with footage of these spot interviews in its spectacularly unsuccessful anti-Gay campaign against pro-Gay Governor Richard Celeste.

The Dispatch, for the last time, put the news story in the second section of the paper. It printed our exact count of more than 8,500 marchers and mentioned that there were only about 350 anti-Gay protesters. The Dispatch also mentioned that the counter-rally at the Statehouse included anti-Gay protesters who were less "gracious" than those along our marching route and quoted from their

extreme statements. The Citizen-Journal had breathed its last homophobic breath the preceding year.

VI. Sunday, June 21, 1987.

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council, Roxanne Qualls, and the openly Gay candidate for Congress from Columbus, Mike Gelpi. The Dispatch kept us in the fourth section.

It was several months after this march that the Dispatch reported that police had been conducting surveillance of Gay pride events and maintaining a file on participants for several years. Stonewall Union asked Columbus City Council to investigate. The Organized Crime Bureau of the Columbus Police Department took pictures of the crowd.

Weather: Sunny, with a brief, passing Police chief Dwight Joseph said: "It shower, 89 degrees.

The new Executive Director beginning with this march was Carol Cohan. The organizers of the march were again slightly outmaneuvered by the fundamentalists, who reserved the Statehouse grounds for the traditional fourth Sunday. Our march was moved to the third Sunday, which is also Father's Day, an event which created a certain amount of controversy, both within the Gay community and outside it. City Council candidate David Nibert marched with us and the featured speaker turned out to be one of the most popular we have ever had, Michael Hardwick, who had challenged the Georgia sodomy law in the 1986 case before the United State Supreme Court. Ours was the first Stonewall Day rally that he ever addressed. Mr. Hardwick was impressed with the reception he received in Columbus. He mentioned his talk in his chapter of a book of courageous individuals who took their cases to the Supreme Court.

The Dispatch moved us to the fourth section of the paper, and we've never come up closer to the front since. Even though the crowd was the same size as the preceding year, the paper claimed that we had only 2,000 marchers present.

VII. Sunday, June 26, 1988. Weather: Sunny, 88 degrees. (It was 101 the day before).

The featured speaker was openly Gay Rochester City Council Member Tim Mains who said that he had encountered few problems since coming out. Also speaking were the openly Lesbian candidate for Cincinnati city

could have happened... I do not consider do not consi that spying."

VIII. Sunday, June 25, 1989. Weather: Intermittent sunshine and thunderstorms, 90 degrees.

The new Executive Director beginning this year was Michael McFadden. Due to construction around the Statehouse, the rally was moved to Bicentennial Park. Two separate thunderstorms rolled through, one brief one as most marchers were just arriving at the Park, and a much lengthier and severe one during the talk of the featured speaker, Karen Thompson, who discussed her long battle with Minnesota

1989

1988

A MER used HOLY NOW LOO

officials over the guardianship and care of her lover, Sharon Kowalski.

The route of the marchers had been changed at the last minute, so that only a few fundamentalists knew of the new route. Most of them were left on High Street to witness a marathon race. A handful of these protesters, however, stood at the corner of Marconi and Broad

and succeeded in macing some marchers.

Curiously, this year the Dispatch did not carry an article on the Columbus march, per se, but instead a generic article on marches throughout the United States, briefly mentioning one also in Columbus.

IX. Sunday, June 24, 1990. Weather: Sunny, 72 degrees.

This was the year that the fundamentalists apparently gave up. Only a tiny handful were seen. Featured speaker was Keith St. John, the openly Gay member of the Albany city council, who urged everyone present to be your own strongest advocate. Attorney Rhonda Rivera spoke about the misconception held by many people that the civil rights pie is only so big, and that there isn't enough to go around to every minority group. She also pointed out a lack of reciprocity by many non-Gay organizations who had received support from us.

The Dispatch again put in a separate article about the march, in the fourth section. The paper mentioned that there were 5,000 marchers and only about 10 anti-Gay protesters.