Cute Revolutionaries Wanted
OK bitches, listen up.
Instead of bitching and moaning about the outlawing of gay marriage by tyrannical majorities in California, Arizona and Florida, why not give it right back to 'em?
Melissa Etheridge proposes withholding her half a million dollars a year in income taxes from California, where she resides, but that can get you into serious trouble, and some of us don't live in California or have half a million dollars to withhold, which makes it hard for us to show our solidarity with those who do.
Why not have a national boycott instead?
I know, I know: boycotts never work. People flake out. It becomes a non-event. But hear me out here.
I'm thinking of a Gay Day, where, on the one hand, gays and their allies would withhold the fruits of their labor from an undeserving and under-appreciative public, much like the immigrant community did a couple years ago to draw attention to human rights issues that impacted their community.
This would be a day where gays and their allies would forgo making people beautiful, making and selling art, movies, music, coffee... whatever. Let's show them what a dreadful, boring, colorless, coffeeless world they would live in without our contributions. (I'm assuming a lot of baristas are gay, even if they don't know it.)
On the other hand — while withholding our exceptional talents from mouth-breathing babymaking automatons and metrosexuals alike who seem to think they can waltz into the voting booth and tell everyone else what to do, we would spend the day sharing our talents with one another in high-profile celebrations of our contributions to culture and the economy all over the nation. Show them that every day is Gay Day. They just don't know it because we make it look so easy.
Get some superstars onboard, get some well-known chains to shutter their shops for the day, you might not only end up getting more straights to support gay marriage, they might end up wanting to get gay-married themselves.
You in Melissa? Grab Ellen and let's talk.
"making people beautiful, making and selling art, movies, music, coffee... whatever. "
Is this what "gay" means to you?
FYI, my gay friends include truck drivers, pharmacists, steel-workers, doctors, policemen, and many others from all walks of life. We're not all hairdressers and interior decorators anymore. At least not in my social circles.
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You're friends with the Village People???? OMG!
Seriously, as long as they're cute, they can come to the party.
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Hiya, been follwoing your blog for a while (I used to live in Boston, right near the Victory gardens!)- first time commenter :)
I thought about a protest during the furor over Gay marriage in MA. I wanted to do an economic statement (as opposed to a boycott). I wanted to print up purple 3 dollar bills (Gay Money) that people would use in every cash transaction they did. For example, getting coffee - you would hand the real money and a 3 dollar bill. You could say you were making a statement or not. Any place that did NOT accept it could be listed, with the details of the failed transaction, on a website.(I like the idea of, 'You need t take this money or I ain't buying...') What I liked about the idea was that Gay people and their allies could do it; also force people to realise the true (economic) power of those supporting equal rights.
Maybe someone will try this in CA.
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I think it's a great idea, Robert. It's the other side of the equation. Would be a very powerful statement. When I was in the UK in 2000, the battle to repeal the outrageous Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988 was just heating up. Section 28 stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship."
The UK was slow to repeal the measure, which was pushed through under Thatcher. It wasn't until 2003 that the amendment was finally repealed. During the fight, there was a lot of talk about "the pink pound." Maybe it's the alliteration, but we don't hear much about pink money here in the states. It still talks, though.
What I especially like about your idea is that it is a positive statement about the contribution gay people make as consumers and supporters of local businesses. The drawback is that it requires people to stand alone, as it were, and make a statement on their own in a situation -- a transaction with local merchants -- where many might feel shy or threatened...
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Hey Mike
I think it would be an interesting exercise to roll out. Alerting people that it would be happening...making folks aware that any turning down of it would be made public. You are right about the positivity of it...absence is hard to measure. I remember at University, we had a 'blue jeans day'; wearing blue jeans on a specific day (it was a Thursday) meant you supported Gay rights. A lot of (mostly) guys freaked out: 'I don't want people to think I am Gay, but I only have blue jeans!!!' It was interesting in that it got people talking BEFORE the actual day.
Anyway, enough rambling...always enjoy your writing!
R
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