Because of its bright rainbow sticker, documentarian Erin Davies’s Volkswagen Beetle was vandalized with the words “u r gay” and “fag” in 2007 on the 11th annual National Day of Silence in Albany, N.Y.
Instead of washing away the words, though, Davies decided to leave the graffiti on her car and later expressed her message against homophobia through film.
Davies’s film will be presented Thursday in the Beach Auditorium of the University Student Union. One reason why Davies embraced the embarrassment and left the graffiti on her car was so people not impacted by homophobia could have a personal experience with it.
“It’s easy to not care about something when it doesn’t ever enter your space,” Davies said. “It’s [different] when it’s two feet from you.”
Davies took the car on a 58-day trip across the U.S. and Canada, and after discovering more serious hate crimes from her experience, the documentary “Fagbug” was made.
Davies and the “Fagbug,” her Volkswagen Beetle, traveled across 48 states in the U.S. during the last six years to raise awareness about hate crimes and homophobia to give a voice for those who remain silent and to inspire others to take a stand against bullies.
Davies said she hopes to teach students that the diversity of all beliefs is valid.
“We should be willing to have respectable dialogue with people who have opposing views,” Davies said, “instead of displaying vandalism or physical assault upon someone’s property or physical person.”
The “Fagbug” car will be parked in front of the USU for public viewing starting at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The presentation will include a lecture and a question-and-answer session with Davies from 5 to 6:30 p.m. A free screening of the documentary will follow the presentation.
Cal State Long Beach history professor Michelle Stonis organized the event to inform students of the hate crimes and homophobia that still exist in various communities across the nation, including Southern California.
“Erin [Davies] took a hateful, hostile experience and turned it into a shining opportunity,” Stonis said. “She gives visibility and hope to those who are discriminated against because of who they are.”
Stonis said that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer community has come a long way since the Stonewall Riots in 1969, but the documentary will “hopefully remind our campus community that there is still work to be done.”
After the initiation of the event’s planning, various departments and campus organizations signed on to support bringing Davies to CSULB, according to Stonis. Sponsors of the event include the LGBT Resource Center, Gay Straight Alliance, American studies department, communication studies department, history department and the women’s, gender and sexuality studies department.
“It is rewarding to see partnership amongst various College of Liberal Arts entities to bring Erin’s message of tolerance to [CSULB],” Stonis said.