Gays, lesbians call for work boycott Dec. 10

With their recent defeat of same-sex marriage in California, Arizona and Florida, gays and lesbians are taking a new approach to getting their way.

A number of same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to take a day off from work this Wednesday and "call in gay" to their bosses, showing how much the country depends on gays and lesbians to make offices run.

Backers of "Day Without a Gay" — scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and tooled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants — also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

Witeck-Combs Communications, a Washington public relations firm specializing in the gay and lesbian market, published a study this year that estimated that gay and lesbian consumers spend $700 billion each year.

Sean Hetherington, a West Hollywood, California comedian and personal trainer, came up with the notion along with his boyfriend, Aaron Hartzler.

The duo were reading online that a small number of angry gay-rights activists were seeking a daylong strike to protest California voters' passage last month of Proposition 8, which reversed this year's state Supreme Court decision permitting gay marriage.

California voters for the second time this decade said no to same-sex marriage, yet gays and lesbians once again vow to find judges who will turn the wishes of the majority around.

Several lawsuits were brought against the vote and will reportedly be heard by judges in March.

While it is certainly one's right to take a "sick" day from work, those in the gay and lesbian community need to realize that much of mainstream America are not bigots. Those of us who have no problems with civil unions simply draw the line at redefining marriage.

Californians have voted twice now on this issue and both times said no to redefining marriage. While the gay and lesbian community vow to fight the vote's outcome, I have no doubt that those who backed Prop 8 (keeping marriage as that of between a man and a woman) will stand behind their beliefs too.

One of the biggest outrages I have with the gay and lesbian community is comparing their fight to that of black people who fought decades for civil rights. The two issues are entirely different, and it is rather insulting to many black people to have the two compared.

Gays and lesbians have made great strides, but there comes a time to know when enough is enough. For many of us in the heterosexual community, that time has come.