Upset that they have been excluded from the planning of the Millions More Movement, black gay rights activists are planning their own rally.

Black gay rights activists plan to hold a rally at the same time and in the same town as the Millions More Movement, the 10th anniversary celebration of the Million Man March this fall.

Organizers of the concurrent rally are upset that their leaders have been excluded from the planning process of the anniversary event, set for Oct. 15.

Millions More Movement leaders have said gay people are welcome to attend the rally. Nation of Islam head Minister Lewis Farrakhan, who led the Million Man March, included gays in the list of the people he hoped would participate in the celebration, but so far no leaders from the LGBT community have been scheduled to speak. Nor have they been asked to take any kind of visible role in the celebration.

There were no openly gay speakers at the original rally, either.

“To say we’re welcome isn’t enough,” Philip Pannell, a longtime activist in the Washington, D.C. area, told the Washington Post. “There’s a big difference between simply being invited to stand on the Mall and actually being invited to speak and to bring up the issues that concern us, like homophobia, which the Movement is not addressing.”

There are also concerns about some of the leaders in charge of the Millions More Movement. Among their ranks is controversial minister Willie Wilson. Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church, caused a stir when he gave a homophobic sermon back in July. The Rev. Wilson warned congregants that “lesbianism is about to take over our community” and the impetus for women to become lesbians is that “sisters [are] making more money than brothers, and it’s creating problems in families.”

About 100 people attended a Sunday meeting to discuss the alternate Oct. 15 rally. Organizers have reserved space in downtown Washington on Freedom Plaza, but there is no word yet on who will speak at the rally.

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