A Day Without a Gay

This is one of the more interesting protests I've heard of recently. In case you haven't heard, today is a "Day Without a Gay". From what I've gathered, this is a grassroots campaign intended to demonstrate how vital gay people are to the economy & the community. Gay people are encouraged to not go to work, but to devote the day to volunteer service instead. Here is an excerpt from their website:

Why in the world are we doing this?
This is your alternative to a march at a time of year
when your town might have harsh weather.
Or maybe it's the a day for you to give back instead of
sitting alone in your home angry at heterosexual
America, forbidding yourself from shopping.
Think of it: This keeps the national dialogue going while
warming your heart and those of valuable LGBT
community organizations who desperately need help....

Yep, today is a day to call in gay. I love it!!! As a matter of fact, you could say it was a gay-in!! Some are even calling it the "Lavender Flu". So today, you may want to allow extra time at Starbucks (love them for supporting (Project)Red ) today since they will probably be missing about half their workforce. Bed & breakfasts may be closed, fine restaurants may be bereft of waiters, & I wouldn't get a haircut today either. Come to think of it, the entire city of San Francisco may be brought to its knees. On the other hand, Kmart sales will probably be unaffected. :)

I have no problem saluting the gay community for their contributions--I know many of my favorite movies, restaurants, books, artwork etc would not exist without them. And all joking aside, I love the idea of a protest devoted to community service. And is there anything more fundamentally American than equal rights for everyone--gay, straight, christian, pagan, handicapable, even Republican (gasp)? It seriously irritates me that there are still 30 states where someone can be fired for being gay, or even perceived as being gay. IMHO, gay people deserve the same rights and responsibilities as anyone else. As I heard a comedian say on Comedy Central (sorry, don't recall who it was), Let them get married! I'm tired of hearing about their carefree lifestyles! Weekends antiquing, wine tastings, dinner parties etc--let them get married, have kids & suffer like the rest of us!

I agree whole-heartedly. Here is an interesting news video off the AP if you are interested in hearing more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynd30mghrVM&eurl=http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&feature=player_embedded

Cheers!