Parallel Parking

[eggwards]

In leaving the office tonight I spotted the non-gay car again. It had been a while since I had seen it. It was parked near the parking garage doorway to the entrance to the habitrail that leads back to the building.

What it is a mid-eighties Toyota Corolla of undetermined color, for now it's sort of rusted/degraded to a strange, uneven tannish/brown. The interior is coming apart and I can't determine if the owner likes to keep the windows open, or if they are just stuck that way. No matter what, the holes in the fuselage probably do the work of the formerly functioning air conditioning.

The reason that this junker catches my eye is that in the center of the back bumper is a sticker of a familiar dark blue with the two yellow parallel rectangles. Yep, this vehicle has an HRC sticker on it, and the sticker isn't faded, and doesn't look like it was left over by some previous owner from the gay 90's. Normally I wouldn't make an issue of this, but we need this for the next paragraph. The sticker is centered, level, and relatively clean.

Clean except for an odd bit of script that has been added to it. The top rectangle has written in fine point pen "I'm Not" while the bottom bar features "GAY!"

The only time I've seen this vehicle has been late at night. I'm wondering if it actually belongs to one of the cleaning crew or one of the guys who works for the couple of restaurants in the area. I really don't see this belonging to an actual member of the family, but why?

For some reason tonight I decided to leave a note. Truly I don't know if the recipient could actually read it. Most of the cleaning crew only knows Spanish. Still, my not just asked the question, "If you're not gay, why wouldn't you remove the HRC sticker (the blue square with the equals sign) on the back of your car? The symbol does mean something to those of us who do live our lives out of the closet. -Michael"

Who knows if it will have any effect, and It's truly doubtful that I'll ever learn what the story is behind the defaced sticker. Still, I guess it's better than seeing the truck that has the god-guns-flag-family decal everyday. I think I know where he stands.

Comments

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

You know, the HRC sticker has become as interchangeable as the rainbow flag or the pink triangle as a symbol for a GLBT person - at least among gay folk. It actually may fly a little more under the radar with straight folk. Still, we know that when we see it, we're thinking that the person in the car is family, so yeah, I'm sure this guy or gal has been hit on.

Perhaps the HRC should develop a separate sticker for the "straight but not narrow" crowd - perhaps the same sticker in reverse colors, so the accepting man or woman wouldn't get unwanted date requests, but still show their support without having to look for the Bic Banana.

[bullneck.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I'm not sure the HRC sticker immediately brings to mind "The person bearing it is family" as much as the pink triangle or the rainbow flag does. To me it always represented a political statement supporting the ideals of homosexual rights and not an identity statement of sexual orientation. I'm not sure which is the more common interpretation of this, however; it may just be a northeast thing where HRC stickers are very common, and even fainbow flags are used to designate "safe spaces" which are not meant as cues to the bearer's identity.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I think that may run a little differently here in the homophobic south. People are more likely to pull the Seinfeld "not that there's anything wrong with that", then quickly try to move away than actually stand up for gay rights (or they belong to a church and all bets are off). In fact, many more people fall into the "live and let live" idea you hear in The Laramie Project where if you don't bother them, or make noise, then everything's good, but don't make a scene, and don't be loud about it.

It's rare to see HRC stickers, so they are defacto markers around here.

[garebear.livejournal.com]

I think as part of gay culture, we have to be more sensitive to those who support gay rights.

On the other hand, those who are straight and who are approached should accept it as a compliment.

One other thought. I've had friends who have had their car keyed... or gotten rude road behavior who asks themselves if it's because they have a rainbow flag on their car. Maybe he's trying to ward off the yahoos.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, I just don't often see them go around slapping HRC stickers on their cars. If this is the case, then yes, I misjudged this person. I remember the "Straight but not Narrow" crowd in college. They were supportive, but they were still identifying themselves as straight, not gay, or even bi. I'm not sure if it was a lack of comfort with the label or not, but that's what I saw.

Still, I've been at pride events, and I know that not everyone there was gay, the crowds were to large, so we have to be glad that other people, parents and friends were their to support us.

I'm just wondering if there could be a better way to show support than defacing an HRC sticker to make sure you don't get hit on. It would seem to state that you aren't ready to have that sticker on your car if you need to put a disclaimer on it. Just as you claim, he/she should see it as a complement, but obviously this has become a problem.

Perhaps a P-Flag sticker would be more appropriate?