LGBTs asked to 'call in gay' for a day

The action, dubbed "Day Without A Gay," is set for Wednesday, December 10 and comes just over a month after the passage of Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. Straight allies can also "call in gay," according to the Web site http://www.daywithoutagay.org.

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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 http://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."

Hetherington said "sitting around being hopeless" after calling in to work "sounded like a shameful thing to do," so he and Hartzler are suggesting volunteer work. Hetherington said it's the first time he's aware of people being encouraged to give a day of service as a form of protest.

For people who live in one of the dozens of states where they can still legally be fired for being LGBT or who don't want to participate "because the economy is in the crapper," or for other reasons, Hetherington and Hartzler have provided a list on their Web site of ways people can still take part December 10. Those include educating others about the need for the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (though the suggestion seems to be referring to the House-passed bill that does not include gender identity that is stalled in the Senate), and helping notify others about volunteer opportunities.

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