Today I had
the privilege of attending an event on campus called ‘Fagbug.’ My roommates and
I saw the car a couple of years ago at the Carousel Mall in Syracuse and had no
idea what it was. When I saw the car on campus today, it unfolded a very
interesting story about a girl named Erin Davies. Erin Davies drove a VW bug
with a rainbow sticker on the back window. One day the Albany, New York student
got to her parking space to find she was a victim of a hate crime. Someone had
spray painted ‘ur gay’ and ‘fag’ on her car. Instead of removing the graffiti, she
decided to keep driving the car to raise awareness. And that she did.
Fagbug is
the documentary film Erin made about her cross-country trip driving the car to
different communities, creating discussion about hate crimes and
homophobia. Erin talked to all kinds of people along the way, encountering
people who may be anti-gay, and finding all kinds of people who would like to
help her. Eventually, the Volkswagen company sponsored the car, and the
graffiti was replaced with a rainbow paint-job that can now be easily
distinguishable as the ‘fagbug’. After a year of driving around with barely
enough money to make it to the next town down the road, She found out HD Radio
was going to pay for the completion of her documentary. HD Radio also helped
her send the documentary to film festivals, she said. Her documentary is now
available on DVD and shea has continued touring in the Fagbug. She speaks to
students and others about her experience in the hopes that she can teach
audiences a different way to deal with life’s bullies.
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