Strangely and Sadly Beautiful
October 18th, 2007There’s nothing quite like walking out of your favorite class, feeling good, taking the time to take the day in and noticing that there’s a beautiful Bug on your sidewalk. “Oh, what a beautiful day…” I say to myself, and then I notice how unusual this Bug is. “That’s not any type of Bug I’ve ever seen before,” I say. “It’s not a ladybug. It’s not a caterpillar” — (I’d know because I love caterpillars) — “and it’s not even a beatle. It’s a Beatle!” And then I notice the really important thing: it says, “Fag” on the side, and “uRgay” on the front.
I’d never seen one of those before.
I circled the Beatle. I had almost walked past, in a hurry to put the finishing touches on a paper, but I didn’t; I noticed what I rightly presumed to be the owner talking to some poor interested bloke in the same state I was in and decided that my writing could wait. “I assume that you’re the owner, this is your work and you’re on tour,” I said, when the man she was talking to walked away. “Tell me whatever else I’ve missed.” Or something like that. I can’t remember the exact opening. Who cares what I had, or have, to say? This is about her, and her story.
Her name is Erin Davies. She’s, from my first impression and conversation, a delightful, intelligent and courageous young woman: delightful because she’s personable and articulate; intelligent because she’s a grad student and articulate; courageous because she’s taken it upon herself to work for all those who have been exposed to hatred and ridicule for something no one should ever be ridiculed for. I’ll her website, Fagbug, take it from here.
On the 11th annual National Day of Silence (April 18, 2007), Erin Davies was faced with an unfortunate tragedy. She was victim to a hate crime. Because of sporting a rainbow sticker on her VW Beetle, her car was vandalized in red spray paint with the words “fAg” and “u r gay” placed all over the hood and driver side of her car. Despite immediate shock and embarassment, she decided to embrace what happened and keep driving her car as it is in order to increase public awareness about the blatant homophobia that exists in our society.
Erin’s mission is to drive her fagbug on a cross country trip and take it to as many diverse communities as possible. She will be gathering feedback for her fagbug documentary, which will shed light on the intolerance that exists in our society. Erin’s goal is to get at least one million people to add fagbug rainbow stickers to their cars so that no one else is targeted like she was. Until that happens, her car will stay as it is!
Erin shared certain things with me, as she shares with everyone on College campuses and in her circle of friends who ask about Fagbug — she shared her newspaper clippings, the little notes that people have left her, from positive reassurances to one note which struck me with significant force, as it accused her of doing it herself. Besides the insinuation that she’d forge such a terrible incident, it’s offensive for the implication that someone would bring such an event on themselves. Yeah, she brought it on herself, alright, by being who she is. She asked for the vandalism — she was begging for it when someone threw a brick through her car window awhile back, right?
Yeah. Right.
If it weren’t for the kindness demonstrated to her by the other notes, I think I’d have lost my faith in humanity. As it is, I’m disgusted by the nastiness some people level at others but I’m glad there are people like Erin who stand up for themselves against all enemies.