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.
Sounds like a direct copy of the illegal immigrant fold day without Latin or whatever it was called.
It did absolutely nothing.
i think it would be a better idea for kids in schools with dicriminatory policies to do this than for employed lgbtq adults. There are MANY schools that dont include gender identity and sexuality in their anti discrimination policies.
There are some really good ideas here, though I personally don’t believe the “Call in Gay Day” will have much of an impact. I also agree with Josh. High School GSA’s could also hold awareness campaigns in their schools. What about rewarding good behaviour? How about patronizing those businesses that actually did not support Prop8? What about nominating them for the GLAAD awards? Just let your positive passion take over!
I agree with everyone else that this is a non-event. No-one except those of us who read this website would even know about it, and my employer who is about as pro-gay as you can get would be like, ok – we’ll put you down as a personal day – see you tomorrow and have fun out there! A better idea is to pack dead fish or other good smelling things in boxes and mail them to focus on the family members.
Well at first I thought it was a good idea. After reading the comments of others, I tend to agree with them. One day,would do absolutely nothing for gay rights. Some would loose their jobs because of the fact that there is still ENDA in the companies policies. The best thing would be if everyone at your job feels the same as you do, then get the entire company to close business for an entire day. The other idea about hte schools is a great idea too.
Personally I find the notion of “day without a gay” ineffective at best and insulting at worst. We are about 2% of the total population. Therefore witholding our money, while it has some consequences, they are very little to speak of. Besides which the whole idea is wrong. It says, “You should respect the rights of gay and lesbian Americans because otherwise it will cost you money.” No. People must respect our civil liberties because it the right thing to do. They are inherent to our humanity. They should not be granted because of some infantile notion of blackmail. Even if it worked, it would be wrong. What happens if we run out of money? Do the rights go away too?
This is an unbelievably silly idea.
If it doesn’t involve a bar, a cocktail or a go-go boy – good luck getting the gay guys to go along with it!
2% of the population? I have no idea where you get your figures Patrick. I have always believed that the 10% figure is closest to reality. Hell, even those that hate us admit to more than 5%!
james- DO NOT presume to me tell what has or has not happened to me. OBVIOUSLY, it’s not a tall tale as it has been reported on many news sources thats black people were racially intimidated at the no on 8 protest in cali. maybe YOU would like to sweep the inherent and no so latent racism of the lgbt community that blew up in all of our faces these past few weeks under the rug and pretend certain things were never said, but i refuse to keep quiet about it. i feel sorry for you if you do.
m, I don’t think James presumed anything. Quite frankly, he told you it did not happen. And quite honestly, most of us do not believe it happened, either.
trace-NO, in actuality it did happen. black people were racially intimidated at the no on 8 protest in cali, with some black people being called niggers by the white protesters there. GOOGLE it, and look it up, because it’s been documented. i don’t care if you don’t want to believe it happened, it’s YOUR prerogative to be oblivious when something is staring you right in the face. I’M going to address something i feel needs to be addressed. i don’t have shut up just so that you can feel comfortable. f**k that. nice try anyway.
m, I’m thinking you should be posting in the “I’m a victim” thread.
I find it very unlikely that someone that was participating in a rally was called names by other participants. In general, rally’s do not turn on it’s participants. Now I can certainly see Prop 8 supporters saying such things.
Seems that this is just another urban legend that has gained legs of it’s own.
It’s understandable that people who have concerns about Day Without a Gay, but many are talking about one of the 3 aspects of the day not working, rather than focusing on all 3 points behind the day. Day Without a Gay gives our community the opportunity to make an impact with a NATIONAL DAY OF VOLUNTEERING. We are not asking people to stay at home sitting in the dark doing nothing, we are asking people to go out into the communities that need our visibility and show our positive impact. This gives a great opportunity to build allies. Also, the Courage Campaign would like to use that day to get 1million signatures for their marriage equality petition. To do this, we need many people in the streets getting signatures. Also, many are taking this day to have another national protest.
When Day Without a Mexican occurred (which this is being modeled after) the hospitality industry fell (in one day), and this definitely showed people that immigrants deserved better treatment, which many gained.
When asked to sponsor this event, we discussed which industries could or could not be taken down. The honest answer was that this is not our goal. We are not asking people to call off of work if they have a pro-LGBTQ boss or if they fear being fired. We only want people to call off of work if they will spend the day volunteering. In the end, the “Call in Gay” idea is accomplishing it’s goal: It’s starting a VERY important conversation about sexual identity inclusive ENDA in rural communities.
When it comes to visibility, David Craig (the creator of Day Without a Gay) has been interviewed about this on CNN, Dr. Phil, Logo, and has a press release in many major magazines and papers. He also has about 500K people signed up to participate.
Day Without a Gay does have the chance of making a large impact. We are asking people to spend the day volunteering and building allies. This is the true impact that we, at Join The Impact, would like to make. We hope that this day is spent collecting food for our National Food Drive which will build many important bridges as we give back to the communities that surround us.
Amy, people should be going out and volunteering on a regular basis. That should not just be a one day thing. I know very few gay people that do not do some sort of volunteer work.
The day without a Mexican had absolutely nill effect on anything. Hell, the Latin and Hispanic restaurants in Atlanta did not even recognize the event. It was ill conceived.
Do not compare the gay right movement with illegal immigration. It is insulting to compare those that break immigration law and those citizens that want equal rights as are dictated by our constitution.
It’s really unfortunate that people are trying to publicize this event as a gay community function. It will not only make us look childish but disorganized when it fails so miserably.