Equality Rocks: A love story.

About two years ago I hatched a dream with Bill Leopold--manager extraordinaire to rocker Melissa Etheridge. The dream was simple: to mount the first major U.S. concert in support of gay rights. It would benefit the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and be called Equality Rocks.

It didn't hurt that my partner, Hilary Rosen, who is president and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, endorsed the plan and signed on immediately as a producer or that we were joined by Garth Brooks's producers as well as Lisa Sanderson and Laurette Healey. Much later The Advocate's own Judy Wieder brought in George Michael and signed on as well. On any given day I lost track of whether I was Billy Graham or Bill Graham.

Finally the day came. On Saturday, April 29, in pure light and magic, we lifted the sky and rocked the world. Our dream exploded into reality as 45,000 people dreamed, hoped, and rocked in Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium.

Melissa, whose instantaneous support of this event made it possible, gave an absolutely riveting performance. George Michael and Garth Brooks mesmerized the audience with "Freedom '90." For Albita, k.d. lang, Pet Shop Boys, Chaka Kahn, Michael Feinstein, and Rufus Wainwright, the audience swayed, swooned, and danced. Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche, Betty DeGeneres, Laura Dern, Julie Cypher, Nathan Lane, Kristen Johnston, and Kathy Najimy provided the humor and wisdom and calls to action.

The most grounding and devastating moment came when Dennis Shepard spoke in a quiet voice of our need to turn back the tide of hate and to heal as a nation. With his wife, Judy, and a group of families at his side, he called on everyone to make a safer place for the young among us. No one will ever forget the face of 6-year-old Ben Kadish, survivor of August's Jewish community center shooting near Los Angeles, as he stood proudly beside his mom, dad, and brother Josh. The James Byrd and Joseph Ileto families had to hold on to each other for support as Melissa sang "Scarecrow." The audience wept and moved as if divided by nothing.

Quite independent of Melissa, her manager came into my life early in my tenure as executive director of Human Rights Campaign. One sleepless night Bill was channel-surfing and stumbled upon me in dialogue with one right-winger or another. The next day he wrote me a wonderful note of support and encouragement. After that, every few months I would get a note or a card. I tell you this for a simple reason: Sometimes there are angels among us like Bill, who for whatever reason care as passionately as any gay person about our ability to live our lives with dignity. He dreams our dreams and does battle with our opposition. And he helped bring us a magical evening that will stay with thousands for years to come. This is a love letter to Bill Leopold.

After the stadium lights dimmed that night, we braced ourselves for the next day's Millennium March on Washington. Although HRC did not create or run the march, it was an early supporter and never wavered, even as our organization was dragged through a two-year mountain of toxic mud for our gesture.

But on the second beautiful spring day of the weekend, a miracle happened. They came. Thousands of them came. No one on the planet was more stunned than I about the success of the march. I stood in awe as I watched Dianne Hardy-Garcia, executive director of the march, manage the massive turnout and complex program.

There are many lessons to be learned here. The march was a painful process, and if the voices of opposition were right about anything, it started badly. There does need to be dialogue about where we go from here and how we go from here.

But there is another lesson. Thousands upon thousands of GLBT people, especially the young, were able to hear through the noise and followed their own instincts. They were listening to their own hearts. Very good people built this march. But just as important as who builds these events is that they are built. More than anything else, many thousands of people found it to be a sure way to feed and restore their souls.

HRC executive director Birch was an executive producer of Equality Rocks.