Following in the footsteps of the film “A Day Without a Mexican” and the 2006 “A Day Without Immigrants” protest against criminalization of illegal immigrants, proponents of the movement to overturn Prop 8 are asking members of the LGBTQ community to do something about the November passage of the proposition that banned gay marriage in California by doing nothing.

OK, so obviously it’s a little more complicated than that. Participants of the “Day Without a Gay” protest are asked to call into work “gay” and abstain from buying anything, using the Internet or cell phones, watching TV or in any way contributing to the straightness of our economy. The boycott aims to give the economy a metaphorical kick in the ass and show just how much gays are worth to California–literally.

Scheduled for Dec. 10, the “rainbow flu,” as one newspaper put it in an oh-so-un-P.C. fashion, also conveniently falls on International Human Rights Day, so participants in the movement are encouraged to not just stay home and hold onto their wallets, but also go out and do something nice for someone by volunteering. A rally and march sponsored by BAMN(of course) are also scheduled to take place at noon on Sproul and a rally at Berkeley’s City Hall at 1:30 p.m.

Image Source: brainchildvn under Creative Commons
Day Without a Gay [Web site]
BAMN Rally and March [Web site]
Earlier: Election Brings Change, Not All of it For the Better

The event will take place Friday, October 3rd on Upper Sproul from 12:30 to 1:45pm and will include student speakers, community members and local politicians speaking about the issue. And yet another man who scandalized the country will lead a rally to support something controversial on the steps of Sproul, and so the Berkeley legacy continues.

And check out our post on Prop. 8 from earlier this week.

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The Battle Over Same-Sex Marriage [San Francisco Chronicle]

In an odd spectacle of bagpipe serenading and pro-Proposition 8 pamphleting this past Monday, a group of very stern-looking, red cap-sporting male members of The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property invaded the Berkeley campus to tell us all why we should stop being gay.

Apparently, this Pennsylvania-based organization is on a 30-day whirlwind tour through California, handing out pamphlets explaining the “10 Reasons Why Homosexual ‘Marriage’ is Harmful and Must be Opposed.” We found that their ten reasons could actually be summed up into four words: “because God said so.”

In true Berkeley fashion, their protest lasted about a good half hour before being invaded by a counter-protest of a more animated group of anti-Prop 8 protesters, their rainbow flag in stark contrast to the medieval-looking “Tradition, Family, Property” crest of the opposing group. Oh Berkeley, the only place we know where you’re relieved to see protesters to distract you from…other protesters.

We still don’t get the bagpipes though, except that their choice of instrument is as archaic as their message.

Image Source: Stimpdawg under Creative Commons
The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property [Website]