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Many of us at the Second March on Washington decided to participate in the scheduled civil disobedience that Sunday at the Supreme Court. There was none at the Millenium March (the Fourth and most recent). To this day, it is the largest number of people ever arrested at the Supreme Court. The Court had just ruled that the state had the right to regulate sex between consenting adults in the privacy of theirhome (5-4 vote). The Bowers v Hardwick case infuriated many in the gay community.

For me, I will remember not just the 600-700 people arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court in busloads, nor will I remember the ten hours it took to process me (and I was lucky). What I will remember is the group of us gathering the night before in a sort of pep rally at Foundry Methodist Church on 16th Street (where President Clinton worshipped).

That night, the speaker said the cops were no doubt in the room. The crowd erupted in thunderous rage and chants. But what I remember the most was the quite voice of a young gay man no more than 19 years old who almost whispered, "They'll still hate us no matter what."

As I turned to face him, he was crying, and we embraced each other knowing that in that moment both of us were scared at the prospect of being physically hurt or subjected to violence the next day or just caught up in the emotion of the moment. I don't mean to diminish or trivialize its importance, but in that moment I think we would have both given our lives for what we were fighting for.

Months later, a friend of mine who translated for the CIA and the Library of Congress (guess what I said when they did a security check on him and asked me if he was gay before they hired him?) called and said he saw a picture of me in Stern Magazine (Germany's Newsweek) getting arrested. I had made the big times--international! Anyone know what the caption means: "Mit Gumminhanschulhen: Festnahme be Demonstration"?