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Some volunteer, others demonstrate during 'Day Without a Gay'

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 10, 2008 at 6:12 p.m.
Updated December 10, 2008 at 6:14 p.m.

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Some people donated food. Some demonstrated. Some volunteered their time. Some just called in "gay."

But for Bridget Brophy, the first national "Day Without A Gay" was reason to sing.

Brophy and her partner, Suzanne Ottam, took off from work Wednesday and visited various offices and shops around Denver, where Brophy serenaded people with lyrics to the tune "If I only had a brain" from "The Wizard of Oz."

So for example, they stopped at a school and sang:

"We bundled up our cute kid,

To take her off to school,

But her teacher wasn't there.

The principal came out,

And asked us,

'What are you thinking?!'

It's Day Without A Gay!"

"We wanted to do something special just to show that we're in every facet of employment," Brophy said after she and Ottam also had visited a hair salon, a lawyer's office and shade and curtain shop.

They also dropped off three bags of nonperishable groceries at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Denver.

There were no estimates available on how many people took part in the protest, which was spurred by the passage in November of a California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage. However, five centers along the Front Range reported modest response to a food drive staged Wednesday.

By mid-afternoon, Carlos Martinez, executive director of the GLBT center, said it had collected five boxes of donated food, which will be turned over to a local food bank.

"So far, I can say it was successful," he said.

In Colorado Springs, in addition to the food drive, a handful of activists demonstrated outside city hall over the lunch hour, said Ryan Acker, executive director of the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center.

Acker said the group held up signs questioning what history would have been different without homosexuals such as Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great.

In Boulder, city transportation planner Cris Jones spent a quiet day volunteering at the Pride Center. He took a personal day off.

"I ran it by my boss earlier in the week. I felt very supported and encouraged," said Jones, who learned of the nationwide event last week via a message to his Facebook account.

Comments

  • December 10, 2008

    7:01 p.m.

    vudumom writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • December 10, 2008

    7:23 p.m.

    karatekid writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • December 10, 2008

    7:38 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    IronmanCarmichael writes:

    vudumom's hate post is reason enough why this was a bad idea. There are too many people like vudumom who wish that gay people would all go away forever. Don't retreat, advance!

  • December 10, 2008

    7:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Aurain writes:

    I don't see the problem with stopping by a school as long as their kid goes there... otherwise that would be wierd. But I was just thinking maybe every type of person should have a day... like punker day or athiest day or even, alcoholic day. Or computer nerd day, or I drive a lexus day. I don't see the point in having a day for gayness when everyone else just celebrates the regular holidays. I am pagan and I wish my Holidays would be considered in the national holiday time off thing.

  • December 10, 2008

    8:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    PastaBender writes:

    This just strikes me as being really anti-productive to their cause ... I guess I just don't get the point ...

  • December 10, 2008

    8:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    MorticiaA writes:

    Even those who are openly Gay where I work showed up and said they thought it was a pretty bad idea. When weighed against having an unexcused absence on the work record during the biggest layoffs in our companies history it probably was a safe play to sit out the sit out.

  • December 10, 2008

    10:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    roger44 writes:

    I was already aware of gays, now I'm aware they aren't all that smart.

  • December 11, 2008

    1:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Rehia writes:

    People have come to accept minorities, women's rights and other religions (for the most part). Why can't people accept gays? It's inevitable, might as well start somewhere.

  • December 11, 2008

    6:55 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    elkman writes:

    It is not inevitable that people accept gays. Why do you think that there has been such a resistance towards the gay community for centuries? Gays practice lifestyles that are unacceptable to most people. Therefore, they resist them. The more that the gay community tries to shove their agenda down the throats of most Americans, there will be a resistance towards them. They want to be equal in every way, but separate a priviledged. So, it does not start with me.