An estimated one million people will be in Washington on Sunday to march for civil rights, and four of them will be from NIU.

The theme of this year’s march is “Together, Proud and Strong” and its aim is to persuade Congress to pass a bill protecting gay, lesbian and bisexual people from discrimination in all areas, said Brian Turkaly, a co-president of the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Coalition (LGBC).

Tara Moyle and Turkaly, co-presidents of the LGBC, and two other members of the LGBC will be in Washington on Saturday for a conference, and will march on Sunday.

Turkaly said Saturday’s conference will concentrate on campus groups such as the LGBC nationwide. He said issues such as how to include minorities in the groups and working with administration also will be discussed.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the capitol overrun by gay, lesbian and bisexual people,” Turkaly said. “For once we’ll be the majority instead of the minority.”

Moyle said the march will be empowering because there will be so many gay, lesbian and bisexual people in attendance. “This many people can’t be mistakes or abnormal,” she said. “We’ll see how diverse we are.”

After the march there will be national lobby days on April 26 and 27.

In a paper about the march, organizers said various gay, lesbian and bisexual organizations “did the groundwork during the election (to elect Clinton) and now (they) have changed the question from ‘Will Congress pass a federal civil rights bill?’ to ‘When will Congress pass the bill?'”

Organizers said they feel it is time to hold the people they helped put in office accountable.

Some demands of the march, as outlined in the paper, are the passage of a bill to end all discrimination against these groups, to end racial and ethnic discrimination of all kinds, full inclusion of these groups in the educational system and an increase in funding for AIDS education.

According to an article in The Washington Blade, a gay newspaper based out of Washington D.C., this year’s march also is being endorsed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). William Gibson, chair of the board of the NAACP, said his group supports “rights that are broader than those just based on race.”

Gibson will be one of the featured speakers at the march.

He said, “No citizen should be excluded from any aspect of life because of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.”

The article also stated the NAACP will support all efforts to repeal the ban on gays in the military.

Turkaly said the march will have a great impact now because President Clinton is sensitive to gay, lesbian and bisexual issues.

Moyle said she sees the march as empowering the homosexual community because “it may encourage people to come out of the closet.

“People who have just come out of the closet and go will get a validation of who they are,” she said.