Yesterday I read about an amazing 29-year-old woman named Erin Davies. On the National Day of Silence last month the Sage Graduate School student went out to her VW bug on her way to work and saw the words “u r gay” and “fag” spray painted across it. According to her Myspace page, she believes this hate-act derived from her rainbow sticker on the back of her car. (Our world is so seriously fucked up!)

At first she was shocked by what had happened but needing to get a paycheck, she decided to drive to work anyway. Even before she left the neighborhood, people where stopping and staring. After she made the police report, she decided to turn this bit of hate into an inspirational project. She’s currently touring the country and filming a documentary about her experiences.

“The typical reaction,” explained Erin. “Is to cover something like this up as quick as possible and to move on with our lives. But even if it was covered up, I would still see that image every time I saw my car.”
Rather than pretend the whole thing hadn’t happened, Erin is thrusting herself into the public eye to make a profound statement.

“Homophobia isn’t just my problem to solve,” she said. “It’s everyone’s. We all need to come together to figure out where this type of behavior comes from, who is teaching it and how it can be changed.”
The lesson of the “fag bug” is that, even in 2007, somewhere, someone is learning to be hateful. “Rather than be bullied into taking my rainbow sticker off my car, I’m going to try and get one million people (gay and straight) to add my “fag bug” rainbow sticker to their own cars so that the kinds of people who support this kind of behavior know that we aren’t going to let them target us again!”

Here’s my wacky idea: Let’s lobby to bring the “fag bug,” as she calls it, to Sin City!

UPDATE [5-18-07: I am very excited at this possibility! Yesterday I e-mailed Erin (owner of said “fag bug”, see post below for more details) about coming to Las Vegas. Today she posted on Myspace asking people to recommend places to visit! I’ve sent her a message saying how much we’d really love to see the “fag bug” here in Las Vegas. I’m not sure what she might need, but I’m assuming possibly help finding a place to stay, eats, etc. Also, she mentioned wanting to take the car to a highly visible event (can’t think of anywhere better than the Strip). Let’s make this happen! Contact me or leave a post if you have ideas or want to help!

UPDATE [also 5-18, but later]: Just got a reply from Erin and she is keen to come to Las Vegas but will need some help with gas money, a place to stay and perhaps organizing some sort of event to spread her message. Who can help? Let’s make this happen!

For more updates click here.