Day Without a Gay (Parent)

• Politics and Law • prop 8 • 3 Comments

Today is Day Without a Gay, when Join the Impact organizers are asking LGBT Americans and our allies to “call in gay” to work, refrain from spending money, and instead donate our time in service to our community.

As a stay-at-home mom, I can’t call in gay. My son can’t drive himself home from school, and my partner is gay, too, so we’d all miss dinner. I thought about going to my local library and checking out all the Maurice Sendak books until tomorrow, but realized the library limits how many volumes I can check out at once in any given category.

In fact, of course, the organizers realize that many people cannot “call in gay,” for many reasons, and offer a list of alternative actions. My own action is to keep running this blog, my own bit of service to the community.

I have, I admit, been a bit ambivalent about Day Without a Gay. Like After Ellen’s Sarah Warn, I’m not against the concept, but wonder how many people in this economy can afford to take the day off. If they don’t, how can the impact of the action be measured? I know LGBT people contribute much to the economy, but will one days’ worth, from only part of the community, really make an impact?

Still, there seems to be a fair bit of coverage of the event in mainstream media, so maybe the actual numbers don’t matter as much as the marketing. If the action can raise awareness of LGBT people’s contribution to our society, then it’s a good thing.

Are you participating in Day Without a Gay, and if so, how? If not, why not? Regardless, what do you think of the idea?

[Update: 8:50 p.m. ET: The Mercury News says participation was “spotty.”]

3 thoughts on “Day Without a Gay (Parent)”

  1. Deborah

    I wanted to participate. I even posted that snazzy icon to my Facebook page announcing to friends that I was going to do call in gay. I’m a stay-at-home-mother, too, but I planned to convince my partner to call in gay, and promised myself I wouldn’t be an active consumer. Then, my partner was laid-off. A new plan was in order.

    So, I did two things. First, I subtituted for a teacher’s aide at my son’s pre-school for some pocket change. And then, I attended the Garden State Equality Town Hall Meeting in South Orange, New Jersey where Harvey Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk and our community rallied around gay marriage. The New Jersey Civil Union Commission issued its final report the other day proclaiming what we’ve known all along. The civil union law is a failure, and there is no equality without a marriage equality law.

    I agree with you that all media is good media but that A Day Without Gay is difficult for us all to support and impossible to measure. So, the icon is still on my Facebook page, but I’m also focusing on calling legislators and volunteering at GSE. I am thankful to all those who were able to call in gay, but I hope that their efforts will not end there.

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