Subscribe to Breaking NewsBalliett: Why ‘Day Without a Gay?’
We’re getting a great deal of discussion on Join the Impact about Day Without a Gay. A lot of people have questions about what to do on Dec. 10th, why we chose the 10th, or why we chose this event in general.
I thought I’d take a minute to explain the purpose behind Day Without a Gay (although David Craig has his own personal story that explains why he came up with this idea).
Simply put: The LGBTQ Community contributes $700 Billion per year to the U.S. economy. When you put that into perspective, that’s the same amount as the economic bailout package.
Our community could be, in a sense, the economic bailout… so we’re good enough to put billions a year into the system, but not good enough to be afforded the same rights as everyone else who contributes to that system?
This is ONE of the THREE things Day Without a Gay is all about.
1. An economic boycott for 1 day. On December 10th: International Human Rights Day. Do not use your phone, do not turn on the TV, do not go online, do not buy ANYTHING. Take it one step further if you wish: take $80 out of your bank account and keep it in your pocket all day. We are taxpaying citizens who are asking for the same rights as every other tax paying US citizen.
2. A day of VOLUNTEERING. That’s right. Don’t sit in your house with all your lights off staring at the wall. Let’s get out there and show this world just how much our community has to offer.
There are many ways to volunteer: Go to a soup kitchen, talk at a local school, work at a retirement center, collect food for the LGBTQ Food Drive, or work with your local LGBTQ organization to get marriage equality petition signatures in your area. Join The Impact is teaming up with the Courage Campaign to gather 1 Million Signatures to repeal Prop 8. These are just a few ideas.
3. A day of VISIBILITY. We are asking that people call of work for this event. This is a great way to show just how many of us there are.
Now here’s the IMPORTANT thing to note: there are still many states that do not have sexual identity inclusive ENDA laws. In other words, in many states, an employer can still fire an employee for being gay. Consider your situation both economically and personally before calling off work.
There are MANY WAYS to show visibility on December 10th. If you cannot call off work, we ask that you show up to work wearing a White Knot, but don’t forget to PACK YOUR LUNCH and refrain from that tempting coffee run.
So Join us in making an impact in many ways on December 10th. Let’s show the nation just how expansive our impact can be – how we give to the economy, and how we can all come together and give to our local communities. View the PRESS RELEASE here.
To quote Prop 8 the Musical “There’s Money to be Made.” How are we going to pay for the economic bailout? Why not allow the LGBTQ community to join in Civil Marriage? Could you imagine how much we would spend on weddings?!
Well let’s find out how much won’t be spent on Dec. 10th.
My first impression is that this is a terrible idea. We won’t be missed in places run by homophobes, because we don’t work there if we are out, and if we aren’t out, we’re not staying home and coming out that way. If we work for people who support LGBT causes, we hurt them by staying home. Taking $80 out of the bank and doing nothing with it is doing … nothing. And what might be worse: everyone notices we really don’t have a noticeable effect on the economy when we check out for a day. Sorry, this doesn’t work for me.
What is needed is a strike with picketing targets that need to be exposed and vulnerable to the economic impact of being boycotted.
This is a horrible idea. For one, my employer has a perfect score as far as gay causes and benefits. Why on Earth would I want to try to harm my employer.
I could take PTO time but I can do that any time. Many people do not have the ability to use vacation time, especially so close to the holidays.
Who thought up this horrid idea?
M,
“i don’t feel much solidarity with the greater lgbt community at this point. when i can go to a no on 8 protest without being called a nigger, i’ll see what i can do.”
This never happened to you. Stop with the tales please.
Sincerely
James
you know this is not such a bad idea, even though i live in Australia, so our gay parades, might not generate as much as what the American public would, but what could be a bigger step forward is to boycott all gay parades because the government most likely relies on these parades of the governments economy… and with the economic crisis at this moment, the government would be more inclined to hand over our rights as a minority group…
I think this is a good idea. Better than doing nothing.
Tom in Long Beach
These types of actions never produce any results. There are better ways to conduct a PR stunt… how about some direct action against Focus On The Family?
this is asinine to me because:
1.no one knows about it, no is talking about it.
2. i’m not feeling much solidarity with the greater lgbt community right now, especially not enough to miss out on a workday. when i can go to no on 8 protest without being called a nigger, i’ll see what i can do.
this seems asinine to me because:
1. no has heard of it, no one is talking about it.
2. i don’t feel much solidarity with the greater lgbt community at this point. when i can go to a no on 8 protest without being called a nigger, i’ll see what i can do.
this seems asinine to me because:
1. no one has heard of it, and no one is talking about it.
2. i don’t feel much solidarity with the lgbt community at this point. when i can go to no on prop 8 protest without being being called a nigger, i’ll see what i can do.
I’d rather build something positive than protest against something negative (and protest in a way that is so disconnected from our exact grievance). I’m not on board.
Its a bad idea all around.
First, most people can be fired from their jobs for being absent. And no, we are not a union with strike rights.
Second, as has been pointed out, the economic impact of this is absolutely nil! Its as ludicris as the old “national day of gas protest” where people supposedly showed the oil companies how angry they were by not buying gas on one particular day. Of course there was no impact since everyone bought gas either before or after.
Third, it has the potential in our worsening economy to make it look like we are HURTING other Americans. That perception is NOT what we want.
And last, when, not if, this doesn’t work, we will be perceived to be ineffective with using our political clout.
I would hope more people would point this out to the leaders of this particularly BAD strategy and stop it before it actually harms our political clout and perception.
Why not wait a month or two to let this catch on in the media?
It’s the 5th and I haven’t heard of it until now AND I keep up with Gay news.
Think of the better impact this would have when people are actually “aware” that this is going to happen.
If we do this on the 10th when hardly anyone will know about it it doesn’t do diddly.
While I agree with Todd that a 1 day boycott may have a negligable economic impact, what I don’t agree with is that it will do nothing. The GLBT community needs to continue to show solidarity and visibility. The nationwide protests were awesome – but that was a singular activity – we cannot become apathetic or complacent. Now is the time to ACT UP and be seen. Personally, I prefer that we take to the streets, but I will be calling in gay on the 10th because I believe that we need to be more united now than ever before. I hope millions of my GLBT family will follow suite.
Sadly, the effects of a one day boycott will be absolutely nothing. ‘Pack a lunch’ – a lunch made of items bought the day before? There goes the economic impact, averaged out in the sales for the week.
To have an impact, a boycott must be sustained. This is why boycotts work and are used against targeted businesses, not ‘everything’.
I support the idea of showing our impact – but a one day ‘boycott’ simply isn’t going to achieve that.