Can You Go a Day Without A Gay?

By Prescott Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 9, 2008 10:35PM

If you look around work tomorrow and notice some empty cubicles, it's probably not a flu outbreak but rather your co-workers "called in gay" in reaction to California's Proposition 8 and other anti-same sex marriage initiatives. Day Without A Gay is a movement encouraging LGBT folks nationwide to skip work tomorrow, December 10th, and head down to a local LGBT community organization that needs help:

In Chicago, the Gay Liberation Network has called for an 11 a.m. rally outside the County Building, 118 N. Clark St., to call for granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Network co-founder Andy Thayer said he didn't expect people to actually "call in gay," but added that "many people will find one way or the other to not be in work that day, because we're sick of being treated like second-class citizens."

Now, as far as we know you can't just march over to Howard Brown or the Center on Halsted with a cheery, "How can I help?" The former asks volunteers to complete an application, and the latter requires volunteers to attend an orientation first (currently full until February of next year). So instead check out this list of Chicago-area volunteer opportunities if you want to participate. And please stop back Thursday and share with us tales of co-workers who legitimately called in sick tomorrow and found themselves inadvertently outed.