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Have you ever wondered what it would be like if all the gay people in the U.S. just didn't show up for work one day? Or if we didn't put a dime of our money into the economy? Well today is the day to find out what that might be like. Today, Wednesday December 10th, is Day Without A Gay.
Day Without A Gay is part of a national movement to protest the passages of the anti-gay ballot initiatives in California, Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas. On this day, which is also International Human Rights Day, we, the gay community, are encouraged to "call in gay" for work, and instead spend our work day volunteering. The goal here is two fold; promote gay visibility, and create good faith in our communities through volunteer work.
Day Without A Gay also hopes to spotlight our importance to the economy by encouraging the GLBT community to participate in an economic boycott for the day. As part of the boycott, it is suggested that we take money out of the bank and not spend any of it for the day; notta, zip, zero, zilch. No morning drive-thru coffee, no lunch out, no gas, no groceries, no dinner out, no movies, no after volunteering drinks at the local pub, no nothing. It is also suggested that we not use our cell phones, not turn on our televisions, and not go on-line for the day.
Now maybe I'm a bit of a cynic, and a bad lesbian, but I don't see this particular protest effort making any kind of an impact. While I think it's an interesting idea in theory, and I've often wondered what America would look and be like if there were no gay people (not nearly as beautiful and interesting I imagine), in practice it just won't work.
There are many reasons I believe "call in gay" will not be as successful as it's organizers hope. Among many reasons: it's legal in 30 states to fire someone for being gay, many people are too critical to their organization to take unscheduled time off unless it's an emergency, and many people aren't out at work.
While I understand the idea behind "calling in gay" to illustrate that we are everywhere and are an integral part of society, I believe coming out, and being out would go a lot further towards promoting gay visibility and changing attitudes. A recent study found that knowing someone who is gay is important to shaping attitudes towards gay rights.
Personal contact with homosexuality is also a key factor in shaping people's views on this policy issue. Americans who have a friend, colleague or family member who is gay are roughly twice as likely to favor gay marriage as those who do not (39% to 21%). This gap exists across all age groups, but does not override the importance of age in shaping peoples' views.- Pew Forum
I could see how an economic boycott could have a bit more noticeable impact if we were all committed to it. After all, the GLBT community contributes more than 700 billion dollars a year to the U.S. economy. That's what, roughly 2 billion dollars a day. So that could be felt. But, it is the holiday shopping season, and the economy is not in the best shape to be stressing it, so again, I don't see full participation.
One thing really I don't understand about the economic boycott, and perhaps someone can explain this to me, is why no cell phone use, television, or internet usage? How does that play in? If we were charged a daily rate for the usage of these things, or if these companies who run these services would lose money based on usage for this day, then I might be able to see the thinking. But my cell company isn't going to make less money today if no gay people use their phone for the day. In fact, it would seem that they would benifit because they provided less service for the same monthly fee.
I've found mixed support around the web for Day Without A Gay. Most people seem to be saying they can't "call in gay," but they've packed their lunch and will try not to buy anything tomorrow. It leaves me wondering if anyone will even notice that today was a "day without gays."
If you're wondering about me, I'm going to
