The crowd in Detroit was amazing! We were every age, gender, ethnicity, and background, marching and chanting together. The freezing rain may have soaked our clothes, but never our spirit.

The hundreds of protesters marched and chanted through downtown, ending in front of City Hall for speakers to talk to the crowd through a megaphone. Every issue in our community came up- marriage, hate crimes, youth issues, and gender identity/expression discrimination- as speaker after speaker told their stories. Each speaker's talk was punctuated by the chant:

What do we want? EQUALITY! When do we want it? NOW!

The most moving moment for me, and it left many in the crowd both cheering and crying, was when a high school student from a small town outside of Detroit took the megaphone. He told the crowd that he and his best friend drove over an hour from their little town to be at the rally today because in his school he couldn't be out. It wasn't an option. In fact, his mother had told him that morning that being gay wasn't normal and wouldn't ever be accepted.

He said that this crowd, and this moment, made him realize how wrong she was. He had found a community. He was accepted. And he said he felt loved just being there today.

That was why we marched. It wasn't a single issue, even if it was sparked by the recent political losses for our community. We marched to make sure that everyone around the country, like that young high school student who was being told at home that he would never be accepted, saw that they weren't alone.

We marched to be visible. We marched to mobilize. We marched for change.

For more pictures, visit my flickr page.