Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Was ‘Call In Gay Day’ a bust?
12.11.2008 8:55am EST
(San Francisco, California) A daylong work stoppage during which employees were encouraged to “call in gay” to express support for same-sex marriage drew spotty participation nationwide Wednesday, with some gay rights activists praising the concept but questioning its effect.
In San Francisco’s gay Castro district, residents and merchants said they endorsed the message behind “Day Without a Gay” but didn’t think a work stoppage was practical given the poor economy and the strike’s organization.“If we are going to make a huge impact and not be laughed at, then we have to take the time and make the time to communicate with all the parties. We could have shut down a lot of the hotels,” said David Lang, a San Francisco gymnastics coach. “In theory it’s a great idea, but it’s being done wrong and now that it’s been done wrong, I don’t think it will be done again.”
The protest, which a gay couple from West Hollywood organized through the Internet, was designed to demonstrate the economic clout of same-sex marriage supporters following the passage of voter-approved gay marriage bans in California, Arizona and Florida last month.
Participants were asked to refrain from spending money or at least to patronize gay-friendly businesses for the day.
Paul Ellis, 51, a manager at Cliff’s Variety hardware store, said he didn’t want his employer to bear the burden of his support.
“My employers have always been there in every possible way. I didn’t feel comfortable discomfiting them when they have gone out of their way to be there for me,” he said.
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that promotes equality for gay and lesbian employees, suggested that gay marriage supporters could send an effective message beyond Wednesday by openly discussing the issue at their workplaces.
“When people go into the voting booth and vote against (gay) rights, they often have no idea they are voting against the person sitting next to them in the next cubicle or office,” said Selisse Berry, Out and Equal’s executive director.
Berry noted that only 20 states have laws to protect workers from being fired for being homosexual, making lesbians and gays reluctant to reveal themselves to co-workers in most jurisdictions.
“Constantly lying about our weekends at the water cooler or changing pronouns, that takes up so much energy that we could be putting into our jobs,” she said.
Participants who opted to take the day off from their jobs were encouraged to perform community service, and charitable organizations across the country said volunteers showed up.
“Visibility is really important for the gay community, so after a lot of thought I decided I would come out and be visible with my colleagues at work and use the time working for the community,” said Carrie Lewis, 36, a University of California health researcher who spent the day working at the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center.
Backers of “Day Without a Gay” organized evening rallies in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, Logan, Utah, and other cities so supporters could gather to discuss the next steps. Rallies also were held earlier Wednesday in Chicago and on several college campuses in California.
“The movement that fought for equality and succeeded in electing Obama president is really looking to make progressive gains now,” said Mark Airgood, who used a personal day to take off from his job as a middle school teacher in Berkeley. “I think we really can, and I think this is an important day for that.”
“However, I came out to my family, friends and coworkers years ago and my fears were totally unfounded.”
It hasn’t been quite like that for me.
Rallies are much better. Nationwide rallies get much more attention than just not showing up and do nothing. Just my humble opinion. Boycotts are also another option.
“Calling in Gay” generated more interest from the media than it did from the LGBT community. BBC, Fox news and many others have made mention of it.
Despite this, I found the whole concept of calling in gay to be counterproductive. Who can honestly participate in this? Only those with good jobs and vacation days to burn and work for an LGBT-friendly company could easily pull this off.
How about some ideas that are more inclusive and show our presence rather than remove our presence?
I disagree with those who say that this was a good idea, poorly executed. There was no way to make this bad idea work well. The businesses where gay employees would feel safe “calling in gay” are just those businesses that are already supportive of our cause.
The whole idea was silly to begin with. A “Call in Gay” day with full participation could shut down San Francisco and West Hollywood, but those aren’t where we find a lot of oposition. Full partifipcation in the event wouldn’t cause a ripple in Bakersfield or Lodi. The activist leadership needs to get out of the gay ghettos and go into the suburbs and small cities and towns and rural areas and listen to people. Only then can they start developing an effective communication strategy. As it is, all they seem to know how to do is preach to the choir.
I would also add that nn employee who can be comfortable “calling in gay” has an understanding employer; those without such are going to lose their job. Or at least find their jobs adversely affected. Legal protections are of limited effect; most employers know how to skirt them. So, again, no communication there.
this was not a stupid idea, but at the same time it was not the brightest. our econemy is going down the drain and people could loose their jobs for this. it would have been a great way to get attention, but it also could have made people dislike gays even more. I could totally picture people in anyones work saying “Oh well joe called in gay, does that mean I can call in straight?” or somthing like “all gays are lazy, they are even using it as an excuse not to come to work!” and if we are calling in gay it sounds like we just became gay or its a disease or somthing. we could have done this a better way.
I think it would be far more effective to keep picketing businesses which are gay unfriendly (won’t offer partner benefits and won’t institute a nondiscrimination policy for example).
I told my boss that it was “call in gay day” but that I was at work because he has been so supportive as have been my coworkers and the company I work for.
I think Stonewall 1.0 hit a wall because gay people were unwilling or unable (oh, let’s be honest scared) to come out. I was terrified, too. However, I came out to my family, friends and coworkers years ago and my fears were totally unfounded.
As you will see from many of the responses you will get to your query that things haven’t changed.
So “Call in Gay Day” was a bust because we first have to work on gay people’s fears before we can expect gay people to come out.
Regards,
Philip
I did not participate for a similar reason. I, too, am a State worker here in California where my coworkers, my manager, and my employer all support same-sex rights. This is a very small unit and everybody is sympathetic to our plight here, so what would be the purpose of letting my coworkers take my share of the work to convince them to support a cause they already support?
In addition, if only 20 states have laws protecting gay rights in the workplace, then 60% of the states can fire employees for participating, and really aren’t those the states where a functional and understandable program is needed the most?
I like that our community is coming together to support our cause and discuss viable options, but this one just didn’t seem to be the right one to me.
Anything with a low participation rate for whatever reason, like might lose your job, is likely to make very little impact in a country as large as USA.
It’s over, lets aim at repealing federal DOMA. Once that goes, the rest is like a mop up operation.
i strongly believe that the idea of the day was ineffective and honestly served no purpose. yes the economy COULD have flopped more on yesterday, but if we are already looked at as less than humans and we pretty much arent welcome in the u.s, does everyone really think by us disappearing for a day that we will be missed? i know that we wont. if i had decided to call my boss and tell him that i was calling out “gay” i would have been fired, not because i was gay but because that is not a good enough reason to put your job on the back burner. especially with the economy being the way that it is. maybe if this idea had some serious thinking behind it, meaning more time to get it together, and other possible actions, it may have been effective and had more supporters. none of my friends called out and we all said the same thing. why give the big wigs on capitol hill what they want? but as usual, this is just my opinion, not all will agree and i dont expect them to.
I think the day has been a success because it has kept us in the public eye in a positive way. In places were everyone showed up to work, there will still be discussion like “why are you here” or “how come there are no gay people”? I hope this becomes an annual event. Making a difference volunteering at a new place wins us friends we wouldn’t get any other way. It’s long-term, not overnight.
This was a good idea at the wrong time and poorly exicuted.
this was a stupid idea. especially considering there are so many in the closet, or unprotected from being fired for being gay. and then there are those of us that work for progressive employers that offer full same-sex benefits. there’s just too many good reasons not to bother with this dumb idea. if this is the best we can come up with, it’s no wonder things like prop 8 passed. even worse, the lackluster participation sends a national message that the concept was a failure, which reflects badly on our entire cause. whoever thought this up — i appreciate the effort, but really, really stupid idea.
There were two huge problems with this event.
First, and most importantly, it needed to have been planned far more in advance…at least several months. This would have given people time to prepare. Even if it required folks to let their employers know that they intended to call in “gay” on December 10, that would’ve been better than not being able to call in at all for fear of losing their jobs. I live in Arkansas, for example–a “will to work” state. Though I’m actually a state employee with excellent job protection, I’m a very rare exception. The majority of Arkansans can be fired at any time, with or without notice, and with or without cause. Gays in Arkansas simply can’t risk pulling a stunt like this. Had they been given months to prepare for it, had they had plenty of time to make arrangements with their employers to take that day off, they’d've been much more likely to participate.
Second, businesses tend to be much more quick to adopt social change than governments. Though California’s government ended up enacting Proposition 8, that doesn’t mean businesses are as much about it as the voters were. I dare say the majority of us work for companies that appreciate, respect, even admire us. I know these things exist in drastically varying degrees depending on the company and/or region, but for the most part, we get by just fine these days. As such, we generally don’t have problems with our employers, so we feel uncomfortable leaving them at a disadvantage just to try to prove a point with which they actually agree–we’re valuable contributors to society, and we deserve the same rights everyone else does. We were trying to use businesses as a sort of scapegoat, when it’s the country’s various governments that are to blame for the lack of equal rights.
I wish I had more suggestions about how to devise a better event to make a statement, but that’s never been one of my strengths. I’m better suited to foreseeing potential problems with plans than I am to conceiving them. Fortunately, I found a job that pays me to do exactly that, and I’m accepted, respected, and even admired by my employers–not just for being good at what I do, but also for being strong enough to be gay in Arkansas. And they’re with me in my struggle for equal rights. So, suffice it to say, I didn’t call in gay on December 10.