1979 Rally for the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights

"Integration, and not assimilation," was Charles Law's message as he spoke at the rally held on the Washington Monument grounds after the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in October 1979. One of several speakers who addressed the crowd of over 75,000 people, many painted a picture of the future they wanted for the community. Law boldly proclaimed his vision for the future. His message was clear: the gay and lesbian community should fight for rights by not trying to blend in but by being out and open. They should unabashedly enjoy the same rights and freedoms as straight Americans and not hide their identities.

Law lived a loud, gay life at home, at work, and at church. At home, in Houston, Texas, he was a founding member of the Houston Committee, a Black gay men's professional group. Although many gay and lesbian folks at the time sought to downplay some aspects of their life, he freely allowed photos of his activism and organizing to be published in the local newspaper. In 1977, he was appointed university archivist at the historically Black Texas Southern University, where he spent the rest of his career. He personally introduced the TSU director of development to the Houston Committee at a meeting in 1982. At that meeting, Law suggested that if anyone gay wanted to go to church, they could go with him to Good Hope Missionary Baptist.  

Charles Law spent a lifetime building community and leading others to be true to themselves. He was deidcated to informing people about his beliefs on "integration, and not assimilation." In his speech at the 1979 rally, he said: "I am afraid that we will find that those gay people who do not come across as being offensively gay, as militantly gay, obviously gay, adamantly gay, or admittedly gay will be the ones to reap the benefits…and the real sissies and the butch women of this country will still have to live in gay ghettos and not have achieved the true import of this movement."