Gay T-Shirts In Windows A Problem For American Apparel

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Gay T-Shirts In Windows A Problem For American Apparel

Posted by Amanda Hess on Jul. 21, 2009, at 6:16 pm

A local vandal may have found an antidote for the “Legalize Gay” T-shirts that have popped up in American Apparel window displays around the D.C. area—eliminate the window.

When Kassandra Powell arrived for work at the Silver Spring American Apparel store yesterday morning, she was met with a crowd, a police car, and a broken window. “I was told that the went off at 5:15 a.m.,” she says.
....

This morning, the Georgetown American Apparel location experienced its own attack from an upset window shopper—this time, over the telephone. Around 10:30 a.m., visual merchandiser Walter Reed fielded a call from a male who was “enraged for no reason.”

“He was like, is this the Silver Spring location? And I said, ‘No, this is the Georgetown location, ‘” says Reed. “He said, ‘You have some Legalize Gay shirts in the window there.’ He said that he and his friends found it offensive, and that if we didn’t take them down, they were going to break it—the window,” said Reed. “I said, ‘Is that a threat, Sir?’ And then he hung up.”

When Reed called the Silver Spring store to inform them of the threat, he was told that the location had already received the more forceful warning about its window display over 24 hours earlier. Then, Reed informed the police of the telephonic follow-up.

Tip o' the hat to DCist for linking to this in the first place.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Scared of a T shirt. What a moran!

[Betty Karlson]

2. And no GLBT people were offended?

Because to the best of my knowledge, "Gay" has already been legalised in the U.S. It's rather unkind of the American Apparel to imply otherwise...

[xchrom]

3. we can and are fired, denied housing, marriage equality,

equal health care services, etc -- all legal in pretty large swaths of the country.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. You said it yourself - gays can be LEGALLY fired, denied housing,

denied marriage equality, denied equal healthcare and social services -

that means gays are legal, right?

[Betty Karlson]

17. That is not what I meant. Please see response # 16

B.K.

[Betty Karlson]

16. Once again I blunder by not being a native speaker

I was referring to the legalisation of homosexual praxis. But I admit that there still is a lot of discrimination connected to prejudices about gay people.

[Taverner]

4. Um, yeah they sure have the same rights as the rest of us

:eyes:

[Betty Karlson]

18. That is not what I meant.

Please see response # 16.

B.K.

[Taverner]

25. Sorry - misplaced thread

It was in response to another post - looking back I'm still trying to figure out which one...

[Hello_Kitty]

5. Rampant Calvinist, eh?

Enjoy your visit.

[Betty Karlson]

19. I am enjoying myself.

Although in this particular instance, I would have preferred to be a better speaker of English.

Even so, thank you for your welcome.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. your best knowledge is not very good.

[Betty Karlson]

20. Apparently not.

I'm sorry about that.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. There is a significant differenct between being 'legal' - as in, not

subject to arrest for simply being gay - and having the full legal civil rights that non-gay citizens enjoy. So long as gays can be legally discriminated against, they are not, themselves, fully legal.

But welcome to DU, and thanks for the opportunity to clarify.

[Betty Karlson]

21. I'm glad you clarified.

I was referring to the first kind of legal, not the second.

Incidentally, I fully support both first and second meaning of the word 'legal'.

B.K.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. What is unkind is your clearly intentional warping of our legal

status in your Calvinist world. You pretend to miss the point intentionally. The founder of your faith, he said that your words should always be direct and to the point, yes being yes and no being no. So your pretense is a transgression in your 'faith' and you should probably look to that. Speck in your brother's eye and all of that.
Or do you think 'Calvinist' means 'jerk'?

[Toasterlad]

13. Nicely Done, Blue

:thumbsup:

[Betty Karlson]

22. I do not know the word 'warping'.

Not being a native speaker, I do not understand what exactly you accuse me of - because I don't know what warping is.

However, you may have interpreted my words wrongly. See my reactions passim in this topic.

[Tyo]

11. Exactly

We are totally legal in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. And probably in Guam, the Marianas and the US Virgin Islands too. It's not illegal to be gay here any more than it's illegal to be Asian or Black. This is a free country after all. It's when we have the brazen audacity to go beyond this and start thinking that we are somehow entitled to equal rights and protections under the law that we run into issues.



:sarcasm:

[Betty Karlson]

23. Please go easy on the sarcasm.

My point was exactly that: that GLBT people are no longer outlawed for being gay (thank goodness not). Of course, GLBT people may still be discriminated against (and wrongly so), but I was under the assumption that such discrimination lacked legal justification. Like African-Americans, they are still the victims of much bias, another group of people discriminated against without legal justicifation.

That assumption may technically be right, but there are many instances where prejudiced people find the law at their side when they treat GLBT people like second class citizens. I can see now why no gay people rallied against that T-shirt. Well, I'm glad to have learned some more wisdom - although the lesson might have been had without the sarcasm, sir.

[Obama2012]

14. Yeah, they can no longer be arrested for having sex

Other than that, they don't have rights in most states.

[Betty Karlson]

24. I'm sorry to hear that.

I assumed GLBT rights were at a more advanced point by now.

I apologise if I caused offence by my mistake. I did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings, least of all the feelings of the people who suffer from this lack of rights.

B.K.

[cwydro]

27. Welcome to DU!

I can't imagine trying to post on a message board in a language that was not my first.

Don't take offense at those who are attacking you. I thought it was obvious what you were saying.

[TankLV]

26. WTF?!!! Being gay has, in fact, been CRIMINALIZED in Amerikkka...

more and more ANTI-GAY legistlation has been passed in recent years than ever before...

[cboy4]

10. Oh the humanity!

[Zodiak]

12. These whackos are terrorists

They destroy property because they feel "offended" by a political position on a T-shirt.

According to US law, that makes them terrorists, especially if they call threatening beforehand. If ELF are terrorists, then these assholes certainly are, and I want them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[gwashington2650]

15. How pathetic

Afraid of a T-SHIRT!

[Iggo]

28. So these T-shirts like other T-shirst of their own gender?

:P