Related Articles  

Photos

Recent Articles  

Shop on ChicagoPride.com

Share

Chicago, IL — Day Without A Gay, a nationwide voluntary strike and economic boycott by gay Americans aimed to heighten awareness of gay rights and the impact gays have on the U.S. economy, was not as successfull as organizers had hoped.

Some people called in "gay" yesterday to show support for same-sex marriage and gay rights, but supporters say many were concerned about participating in such an action considering the state of the U.S. economy.

Several gay and lesbian people said they couldn't afford to take the day off and were concerned about their jobs. 

Modeled after the 2006 demonstrations for immigrant rights, Day Without A Gay encouraged gays and their supporters to call in "gay" yesterday, December 10th; just over a month after the passage of Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.

Sean Hetherington, a 30-year-old trainer and stand-up comic who lives in West Hollywood, said within a week of launching the Web site www.daywithoutagay.org, he and Aaron Hartzler, his boyfriend, had 100,000 hits.

Hetherington said he and Hartzler were inspired by a November 14 Los Angeles Times column by Joel Stein in which Stein wrote, "No Gays for a Day will demonstrate what it would be like if - as so much of the non-coastal U.S. seems to desire - gays just disappeared."

In June, Witeck-Combs Communications projected the total buying power of the country's LGBT adult population to be $712 billion this year.

Thirty states, including California, explicitly ban same-sex marriage, and Arkansas voters recently passed a ballot measure to ban unmarried couples from adopting children, an initiative directly aimed at thwarting gay and lesbian parenthood.

The LGBT community maintained varied views on Day Without A Gay and its impact on gay rights. 

No one has commented on this article yet.
Be the first one to comment!