Less than one month after an estimated 100,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the National Equality March, the two co-directors of the organization overseeing the event have abruptly quit.

Kip Williams and Robin McGehee have resigned from Equality Across America. In a statement sent to the Bay Area Reporter on Tuesday, November 3, Williams said that he was moving on "for personal and professional reasons."

"First, I need more security in my life, because I worked on the march for less than minimum wage and without health insurance," Williams stated. "Second, I share with EAA the goal of full federal equality, but I have different ideas about the road to get there."

Williams said it was not accurate to characterize his leaving over differences with longtime gay activist Cleve Jones, who first called for the October march on Washington and who has been the public face of the event. While Williams said he left more for financial security, he did indicate that there were strategic differences with Jones and others over the future of the organization.

When Jones first mentioned the idea of a march in May at the Meet in the Middle 4 Equality rally in Fresno following the state Supreme Court's decision upholding Proposition 8, he trumpeted the plan as a way for newly energized LGBT and allied activists to continue pushing for change in the wake of the Prop 8's passage last November and the state Supreme Court's subsequent decision upholding the ban on same-sex marriage.

McGehee, a Fresno resident, was the lead organizer of Meet in the Middle, and parlayed that experience into working with Williams to help Jones realize the goal of staging a national march in about five months on a shoestring budget.

Now, it appears as though Williams and McGehee will continue working together, though it remains unclear what their next steps will be.

"In our activism against Prop 8 and for the National Equality March, Robin McGehee and I have found that we work really well together," Williams said in his statement. "We're both fully committed to the struggle for full federal equality, and we're developing some ideas and visions about our next steps."

The National Equality March's only stated goal was equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.

Williams, 27, who lives in San Francisco, added that he hoped no one would become "distracted" by the internal strife within Equality Across America.

The news about Williams's and McGehee's departure was first reported Tuesday morning on the Bilerico Project blog, which said Williams informed the executive committee a couple of weeks ago, while McGehee notified the steering committee last week. Bil Browning, founder and editor-in-chief of Bilerico, disclosed at the end of his post that he is a member of the National Equality March executive committee. The committee voted in favor of appointing Tanner Efinger as interim project director of Equality Across America.

In her letter, McGehee said only that she would no longer be able to serve with Equality Across America.

In an e-mail, she said that she agreed with Williams's statements.

Jones told the B.A.R. Tuesday that Efinger was appointed on a volunteer, interim basis.

"I have no comment on the personnel issues," Jones said, adding the group is discussing next steps.

Jones did say that within the next few weeks, Equality Across America would be contacting the 25 executive committee members and 85 steering committee members to see whether they should proceed with a formal governing structure for the organization, including a constitution and bylaws.

"I'm not advocating; we really need to think about this," Jones said. "Do we need another national organization? It's not clear to me."

Jones was quoted on the Bilerico blog as saying he wasn't sure Equality Across America is a viable organization.

"It's still not clear to me that EAA is going to happen yet," Jones said.

March goals

Jones publicized the march through numerous appearances on college campuses and LGBT community centers throughout the summer, even as there was brewing disagreement within the LGBT community about the need for a march or whether such a massive event was possible on such short notice.

In fact, the march did take place and was successful, although not as well attended as the previous LGBT marches on Washington.

From the beginning, Jones insisted that the event would be a scaled down affair, with the only goal of the march being full federal equality and that the way to best achieve that would be to establish action teams in all 435 congressional districts across the country.

It remains to be seen exactly how many of those teams have been formed.

Jones said Tuesday that he thinks groups have formed in some 200 districts.

"But that's kind of fuzzy," he added.

In an e-mail to the B.A.R., Williams said that since the march, grassroots groups across the country have continued to meet in their communities and take action together.

"They have written letters, held public demonstrations for federal equality, volunteered for the efforts in Maine and Washington [state] and made plans to lobby their representatives," Williams said.

But he added that the apparent internal leadership differences left Equality Across America unable to muster the troops.

"At the national level, Equality Across America has shifted its focus to its governing structure and missed several opportunities to inspire its supporters and call them to action," Williams said.

He said that he did not want to focus on the internal politics "while the speeding train keeps moving."

Williams was asked what he would tell the thousands of people who took part in the National Equality March and associated events.

"Don't wait for permission to rise up," Williams said. "Whether or not Equality Across America continues as an organization, the National Equality March was a call to action. All over the country, we need to organize in our communities and assert our struggle for civil rights. That struggle is fundamentally about personal power."

Jones said he didn't think the resignations of Williams and McGehee indicated there is any controversy.

"It's natural for people to rest, to go to work in Maine and Washington," Jones said, referring to the fact that some march participants took part in campaign work for ballot measures in those two states.

"We did a great job and we did it under budget," Jones said of last month's march.

Williams said he was paid $9,000 for work between July and November 1, or about $2,000 per month.

The budget for the march was estimated at about $200,000.

The Human Rights Campaign, which this summer launched its own initiative to encourage LGBT and allied supporters to contact members of Congress in support of various pieces of legislation, will continue that effort.

"As we have already been doing this year, HRC will continue to ramp up our efforts to directly lobby members of Congress in support of critical pieces of legislation affecting the lives of LGBT Americans," spokesman Brad Luna said in an e-mail.

Luna said that through HRC's "No Excuses" campaign, 8,000 of the organization's members and supporters have already "stepped up to the plate to become citizen lobbyists, and we look forward to training even more."

"With the first Senate hearing on ENDA scheduled for Thursday, it is absolutely imperative that we keep the pressure on Congress by having them hear from those who support equality," Luna said, referring to the November 5 hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Director needed

Williams's and McGehee's decision to leave Equality Across America meant that someone had to step in as project director, Williams said. That's a requirement of Equality Across America's fiscal sponsor, the Tides Center.

"They require a project director, who is their main point of contact for the organization," Williams said.

That is apparently why Efinger was elected interim project director.

The Bilerico blog post also indicated that Equality Across America had no bylaws, budget, mission statement, or organizational structure.

Williams confirmed that information.

"When I left EAA, we had no bylaws, and a very rough draft budget and mission statement," he said. "Robin and I were also working on a structure and vision statement for the organization. To my knowledge, these have not been completed."