A Day Without a Gay

I saw a news report today about tomorrow's "Day Without a Gay" strike. I don't know that "strike" is really the right word, but it's all I can think of. From the website: "Day Without A Gay seeks to shift our strong feelings about injustice toward service! Let's fight for equality by out-loving those who would deny us rights. Call in "gay" on December 10th (International Human Rights Day) and volunteer for your local LGBT and/or human rights organizations".

In other words, if you're gay, or if you support gay rights (whatever that means), you're supposed to not go to work tomorrow (December 10th). You're also not supposed to shop at stores that don't support gay rights. The idea is to show the economic impact the LGBT community has.

I remember the Mexican/Hispanic community tried something similar to show their impact as immigration issues were being debated.

This raised a number of thoughts in me. One is that usually when I stay home, I call in "sick". Now they want people to call in "gay". I thought they'd just spent the better part of a decade trying to convince us that being gay wasn't the same as being sick. Hmmmm...

I also thought that I could do this, too, just like the gays. I could call in "Mormon". Can you imagine that? "Hello, boss! It's Mark. I just wanted to tell you that I'm feeling really Mormon today, and frankly, I'm just too Mormon to work. I'll see you tomorrow! Thanks!"

But think what would happen to the Utah economy if we were to do that. We'd have to pick a day that really resonates with Mormons. Maybe Joseph Smith's birthday on Dec 23rd. Or even better! We could all not go to work on the anniversary of the day the Mormon Pioneers first stepped into the Salt Lake Valley!

Oh, wait... We're already doing that.

Hey, here's a better idea! Instead of only doing it one day a year, we should really show how much economic clout we have! We should do it more often! Like, monthly or even weekly! What would happen to Utah's economy if all the Mormons stopped shopping or working one day a week. Hey, how about Sunday!

Oh, wait...


MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com