Some general thoughts on the fair

I just wanted to share some general thoughts about our time at the fair thus far this week (this is Kate posting). I think Victoria has done a great job with the details of each day, but I wanted to comment on the big picture for a minute.

Let me start by saying how important this work is. I truly believe this type of grassroots effort is how we are going to change hearts and minds in this state. Our neighbors in Knox County now know who we are, know what we are about (if they've had the courage to ask us) and can put a local face to any GLBT issues they might hear about or come across. And, we have met many GLBTA folks in the county that had never heard of us before. Some of these people weren't sure whether they should approach the booth but were happy to see friendly faces when they did. Others may not have come up to us, but they know we are here. I hope to see some of these new faces at one of our future events. We've also been able to educate the people who have stopped by our booth about issues facing the GLBT community in the state. So many people were willing to sign FIRED cards to show their support for the Equal Housing and Employment Act bills currently in the Ohio House and Senate. They were horrified to hear that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people can be denied employment, housing or public accommodation purely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. We even had some people come back to the booth with friends to have them fill out FIRED cards.

I would say about 99% of our interactions have been like those I described above - positive, encouraging and supportive. However, we have had far more (and more severe) negative interactions than I would have guessed. I've been lucky because I haven't had to deal with a lot of "in-your-face" discrimination in my life. In fact, I've always told Victoria that we don't have to worry - the people that don't like us or find us disgusting are too chicken to say anything to our face about it. Well, turns out I was wrong. Some people have had no qualms about telling us just what they think of us, right to our face. It hasn't been pleasant, but it's been eye-opening, which is important. I have a better sense of what we are up against, and I think I have a better idea of how best to approach issues going forward. We'll have to see though.

I talked to Victoria during lunch today and she said they had the worst interaction yet this morning. It was so bad she didn't even want to talk about it. "I wrote everything down, you can read it when you get to the booth," she told me. I do worry about her being at the booth during the day. Isn't that crazy? I know Tony is there, and I take comfort in that, but I had a bad feeling about today, which is why I called her. Turns out I was right. I suppose I'll find out what happened tonight when I get there.

Some surprises - this is turning out to be longer than I thought, so I'll end with a wrap up of some of the things that have surprised me. First, a lot of people see our sign and come up to us to ask "Ok, so are you FOR or AGAINST gay people?" I think we need t-shirts with our logo on the front and "We're FOR gay people!" on the back. Second, some people - both allies and opponents - don't seem to understand how the "gay" and "straight" pieces work together. One lesbian asked me angrily "why do you have 'straight' on there?" Third, the DGSCA logo, which features a cross with a pink triangle and a rainbow, has gotten a lot of attention. "Wait, you're gay AND you're christian? How does that work?" Or from someone less curious, "This makes us all look bad!"

Ok, well on that note I'll take a break for now. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and shown their support. Victoria is right - it makes all the difference!