Calling in 'gay' to work is latest form of protest

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Some same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to "call in gay" Wednesday to show how much the country relies on gays and lesbians, but others question whether it's wise to encourage skipping work given the nation's economic distress.

Organizers of "Day Without a Gay" — scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants — also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

Sean Hetherington, a West Hollywood comedian and personal trainer, dreamed up the idea with his boyfriend, Aaron Hartzler, after reading online that a few angry gay-rights activists were calling for a daylong strike to protest California voters' passage last month of Proposition 8, which reversed this year's state Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage.

The couple thought it would be more effective and less divisive if people were asked to perform community service instead of staying home with their wallets shut. Dozens of nonprofit agencies, from the National Women's Law Center in Washington to a Methodist church in Fresno collecting food for the homeless, have posted opportunities for volunteers on the couple's Web site.

"We are all for a boycott if that is what brings about a sense of community for people," said Hetherington, 30, who plans to spend Wednesday volunteering at an inner-city school. "You can take away from the economy and give back in other ways."

Nothing says "loyalty" and "reliability" like telling your employers to take this job and shove it for a day to score political points...

tristanrobin · #2 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 08:25 AM

IMO, this is an exercise in futility.

If somebody is out at work, they don't NEED to stay home, and anybody who is NOT out at work, isn't going to out themselves for this pointless event.

misguided attempt at peaceful demonstration

crazyflamingos · #3 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 08:41 AM

This is a running joke at my house. My partner has one of those jobs where her boss thinks that if she isn't there all work stops so she often goes in sick and ends up at the end of every year with vacation time she hasn't used. Whenever she gets all stressed out or I get annoyed that she hasn't had any time off, I tell her she should call in gay. It is a sickness, after all. Isn't it?

Seriously though. Tristen is right. This is unlikely to have any affect whatsoever. Unless every gay person in the workforce goes along, it is not even going to be noticed. And that just is not going to happen -- especially with the present economic conditions.

faithful_servant · #4 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 09:37 AM

This is WAY stupid. If you want to make an impact and improve the public's opinion of you, you don't do things that inconvenience people. If homosexuals want to be noticed positively, they should be doing the exact opposite of this and hold a nat'l Gay Day of Service. Take a day that they have off and put forth a concerted effort to improve their image, instead of looking like petulant children and trying to make things difficult.

What's really bad is that homosexuals (esp. males) are steroetyped as being drama queens and this kind of thing just adds to that stereotype. Gives an image of a 100,000 "flamers" (like my BIL) going "WELL, if you don't appreciate me, lets just see how you do without me." <don't forget the lisp, the flounce and storming off in a full blown huff>

foundit66 · #5 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 10:30 AM

From the article:

Quote:

Some same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to "call in gay" Wednesday to show how much the country relies on gays and lesbians, but others question whether it's wise to encourage skipping work given the nation's economic distress.

Organizers of "Day Without a Gay" — scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants — also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

Sean Hetherington, a West Hollywood comedian and personal trainer, dreamed up the idea with his boyfriend, Aaron Hartzler, after reading online that a few angry gay-rights activists were calling for a daylong strike to protest California voters' passage last month of Proposition 8, which reversed this year's state Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage.

The couple thought it would be more effective and less divisive if people were asked to perform community service instead of staying home with their wallets shut. Dozens of nonprofit agencies, from the National Women's Law Center in Washington to a Methodist church in Fresno collecting food for the homeless, have posted opportunities for volunteers on the couple's Web site.

"We are all for a boycott if that is what brings about a sense of community for people," said Hetherington, 30, who plans to spend Wednesday volunteering at an inner-city school. "You can take away from the economy and give back in other ways."

The whole thing is an issue where some news people gave this WAYYY more press than it deserved. It's not advocated by any gay rights group.
Some unnamed posters were byatching on some miscellaneous message board, a couple other people saw it and decided to give it a twist by throwing community service into it, and all told I would be surprised if it was even a dozen people were involved before some news media schmuck started giving it air time cause he didn't have anything better to talk about...
Info on it is being put up on the "couple's web-site"...

Lame in multiple dimensions.

dabateman · #6 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 06:39 PM

I do have a few quick responses. I don't care if heterosexuals are "inconvenienced" by employees calling in gay. They obviously didn't care about the inconvenience of prop 8, adoption bans, or constitutional amendments.

If anyone read, this is being pushed as a national gay day of service where if you call in gay you need to go out an volunteer. I don't think that the potential positives are being stressed.

I think that this is not exactly the way to go about it, but their heart in the right place. The problem is that this will not improve the image. Nothing will as long as a book of ancient scriptures stands between logic and the law.

saltwn · #7 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 07:12 PM

As with any other solidarity movement, it depends on the amount and sensibleness of participants. But this is an excellent idea! No violence. And the day will be productive. If a good percentage participate, this could help enormously by allowing the general public to understand how many people truly are discriminated against.

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