It May Be a Pretty Gay Day in Philly After All
By MIKE STRUG and VINCE LATTANZIO
Updated 8:47 AM EST, Wed, Dec 10, 2008
It's an action that seems to have been born on the Internet. It's a Day Without a Gay. A protest by some scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day Wednesday.
It apparently grew out of the passage of Proposition 8 in California that bans gay marriage.
Malcolm Lazin, the founder of Equality Forum, says the country is witnessing a gay civil rights movement.
"I think what people need to remember is we are right now at the epicenter of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement. It would be as if we were living in the 1960s or 70s in terms of the black civil rights movement. That’s what’s happening in this country," Lazin said.
The call-out action is designed to show how much the nation depends on gays and lesbians.
It urges them to perform volunteer work tomorrow and to refrain from spending money rather than going to work. But it's not clear how much participation can be expected here in the Philadelphia area.
"I think just because it arose so quickly that it’s going to, in its first year, be something that will be done on a widespread basis," said Lazin.
At the William Way Center, the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender community center in Philadelphia, a number of people said they had not even heard of a Day Without a Gay except for center director, Dolph Ward Goldenburg.
"I think a lot of folks have probably not heard about it. But I’ve heard rumors from a lot of folks about it," said Goldenburg.
When asked if staff at William Way would be participating in the event, Goldenburg said his position is that his staff should come to work.
First Published: Dec 10, 2008 12:16 AM EST
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