Day Without A Gay
On December 10th, Sean Hetherington and Aaron Hartzler organized Day Without A Gay. They asked people to “call in gay” to work and spend the day volunteering for GLBT and/or human rights organizations. The idea was intended to demonstrate the contributions of the GLBT community to the nation’s economy.
The event coincided with the International Human Rights Day and was conceived in response to California’s Proposition 8 initiative which banned gay marriage. According to press reports, the turnout was low.
No word yet on whether or not there will be a repeat next year.
December 20th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I remember a year or two ago undocumented (illegal) immigrant workers also staged a massive sick-out, to show their contribution to the workforce.
In some ways, a Day Without a Gay is more than a sick-out, it is a mass-scale “coming out” event. Not all gays wear their identity on their sleeve. Most gays dress, speak, and act like any common person. This “coming out” day shows that gays come in all appearances.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Maybe I’m stating the obvious but, the concept behind Day Without A Gay is dumb. Unless the point was just a publicity stunt?
Even LABOR can’t get union members to demonstrate their impact on the US economy and these guys thought LGBT (a community defined in part by members who’re still in the closet) and their supporters would?
I guess I just don’t get it.
January 5th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I would like to know why the turnout was low. What happened?
And were there videos recorded on the day of the event?