The Adventures of a Car Named 'Fagbug'
Erin Davies toured the country in a car marked with anti-gay graffiti. Courtesy of Erin Davies hide caption
Someone spray-painted Erin Davies' car last year in Albany, N.Y. Courtesy of Erin Davies hide caption
Erin Davies got an unexpected response to the rainbow sticker on her Volkswagen Beetle. Davies, living in Albany, N.Y., saw that someone had taken the gay rights message as an opportunity to add an another message. In red spray paint. And crazy letters.
The culprit, whoevever it was, scrawled "fAg" and "u r gay" across the hood and driver's side of her car.
Instead of removing the graffiti, Davies decided to take her bug on a 58-day cross-country tour and make a documentary about it. Her saga began on April 18, 2007. Now she's racing to finish the movie in time for the first anniversary.
Fagbug provides an often surprising portrait of America, where voters have long wrestled with the issue of sexual differences. Along the way, Davies confronts people who make fun of her for driving the car and deals with the anger of people who are outraged by the slur. One tough guy in Las Vegas tells Davies how he'd deal with someone defacing his car — or Davies'. "I'd crack their skull open with a baseball bat. That's exactly what I'd do," he says, in language that grows more colorful as he vents his feelings about it. "There's no room for people like this. It's wrong. It's wrong."
Follow Davies' work on her site, Fagbug: Activism on Wheels.
On our blog: Clips from Davies' upcoming movie.