NPR: The Incredible Adventures of a Car Named 'Fagbug'

The Incredible Adventures of a Car Named 'Fagbug'

Filed under: Video

On April 18, 2007, Erin Davies -- then of Albany, N.Y. -- found the words "fAg" and "u r gay" spray painted on her VW Beetle. Instead of removing the graffiti, Davies decided to take her bug on a 58-day cross-country tour and make a documentary about it.

Davies told us all about today on the show, and she sends a few clips from the film in the making. I'll drop one here and two more after the jump. You can follow her progress on her website, Fagbug: Activism on Wheels.

From Erin Davies: In Vegas, as I was interviewing a young woman who had also been a victim of a hate crime, this gentleman pulled over to talk to me after seeing me on the news. Several people have said they would respond to something like this with violence. I'm trying to put a non-violent message out there. I feel my actions are enough in continuing to drive the car and not letting the person who did this get the best of me.

WARNING: Content Contains Some Language That May Not Be Suitable For All Audiences.

From Erin Davies: Everyone has a guess about who actually would take the time to do something like this. Is it a male or female, child or adult, someone who's gay or straight? Two women in Seattle shared their guesses with me.

From Erin Davies: After getting four very positive notes left on my car in Albany, the fifth note I got was from a man named Dan who accused me of making the entire thing up. He left his phone number on the note, and so after returning back from my trip around the U.S., I met up with him.

Win Rosenfeld

12:42 PM ET | 01-16-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Ms. Davies is doing a great thing. Hopefully, bringing us the human faces and voices of those on the receiving end of sexual bigotry as well as those of John and Jane Q. Citizen will enlighten and help us move away from the ridiculousness and harm of judging based on sexuality.

Sent by Steve Liggio | 9:34 PM ET | 01-16-2008

Gee I wish I could use my personal experiences with homophobia to become a celebrity, get endorsement deals and make a movie. But gee... most of us don't have a physical transcript of hate speech; its usually said to our faces not written down for prosperity.

This type of thing appeals to queers and straights who think The Advocate is the bees-knees. It's fluff. (again, I'm queer I'm allowed to say that)

And its not even a human face; its a car's face (hood). Us queers get called fag every single day, but if someone titles a car 'fag' then the masses get all choked up about it.

Sent by Brian | 10:47 AM ET | 01-17-2008

I was going to type up a stirring little diatribe to refute Brian's comments, but I think Steve's does so quite well and much more politely. Therefore, I'll present it again here.

"Ms. Davies is doing a great thing. Hopefully, bringing us the human faces and voices of those on the receiving end of sexual bigotry as well as those of John and Jane Q. Citizen will enlighten and help us move away from the ridiculousness and harm of judging based on sexuality."

Thanks, Steve.

Sent by LB | 1:41 PM ET | 01-17-2008

Brian makes a good point about how the crux of this movie is that the producer has the privilege showcase the evidence of the bigotry she experienced, and I think it cannot be over stated.

However, I would like to add to it that in this specific case I appreciate the irony that the homophobes act to scare somebody was ironically turned around into the very thing that empowered her.

Sent by Corbett | 1:53 PM ET | 01-17-2008

Does the orginal writing on the driver side window look like the replaced writing?

Sent by questioning | 10:45 AM ET | 01-19-2008

This movie is a classic case of taking a negative and turning it into a positive. Ms. Davies exemplifies two admirable qualities here: non-violent protest and using lemons to make lemonade. In the process, she's made it that much harder to deny that this kind of bigotry causes real hurt. In a way she was lucky to have solid physical proof in the damage to her car. Words spoken can always be denied. Words written in permanent spray paint can't be. At least this time it didn't result in someone in the hospital or dead.

Thanks, Ms. Davies, I'll be looking for your movie, hope it'll be playing near me.

Sent by Carol | 8:21 AM ET | 01-20-2008

Call it what you will, juvenile, bigotry, discrimination, hate, whatever, those few words written on the car sum up the ridiculous sentiment that pervades so much of this country under the banner of "family values" "culture war" "traditional values" "no 'special rights'". to the maker of this movie-thank you for being brave. I'm moving to Canada.

Sent by Amit | 6:31 PM ET | 01-20-2008

Bravo to Ms Davies! I wish her well in here endeavor to expose and educate the savage beast known to all of us as the great intellectual vacuum.

However, I hope through her documentary other deeper issues will be examined. I live in a college town of about 60,000. Most of the students are intelligent, optimistic and ready to turn prejudices aside for greener pastures. However, there is a smaller contingent (made up mostly of men) who freely call the following activities "gay":
1. Looking at all sides of an issue
2. Showing compassion for another person
3. Expressing joy or sadness
4. Having any kind of spirituality
5. Treating women respectfully

Yes, the above list is gay, communist, and sadly unamerican- compared to drinking, fighting and having contempt for anyone who disagrees with you.

I guess that means I've been gay for a long time! :)

Sent by Frederik Norberg | 10:05 AM ET | 02-17-2008

movie deal? fame and fortune? The person who claimed this is the reason for the film is obviously in too much pain and anger to attempt seeing a situation from a completely new perspective, as did our filmmaker. She dealt with her pain by sharing her situation with others and ultimately feeling, (I'm guessing here) that she isn't alone or hated that the people who did that are uneducated, self-hating and fear based humans who have not learned that different is great. Instead, they're probably wearing the same shoes, same clothes, same hairstyles as everyone else simply because they don't have the courage to be themselves. It's hard to be different, then people like them will judge them.

Sent by kimberly berg | 12:51 PM ET | 02-17-2008

Brian,
The whole point of her movie is to raise awareness, not gain fame. She wants to let the world know what happens to the members of the LGBT community on a daily basis, not just wallow and do nothing about it. She's fighting back, and I think it's better than not being heard at all.

Sent by Melissa | 1:47 AM ET | 04-12-2008

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