Quest Magazine Vol. 17 Issue 9
SPECIAL FEATURE June 10, 2010

Quest PrideFest Weekend Feature:
DRIVING AWAY INTOLERANCE
Fagbug drives into Milwaukee’s PrideFest

“I’m not famous but my car is on some level” – Erin Davies, fagbug.com

We’ve heard about the celebrated and often criticized fagbug for several years. Now, after years on the road, documenting her journey with photos, videos, and stories, Davies and the fagbug will roll into Milwaukee for PrideFest this June 11, 12, and 13. Quest heard the good news, and managed to get owner, and activist Erin Davies to pull over long enough to answer our questions.

QUEST: What made you finally choose Milwaukee PrideFest?
DAVIES: I’ve heard it’s one of the best prides in the Midwest. I travel a lot and have done several talks at colleges in the area and kept hearing great things so I decided to make the trek this year as part of my summer tour promoting the DVD release of my film, “Fagbug.”

QUEST: You’ve done a lot of driving! How much mileage is on car?
DAVIES: I just broke the 150,000 mark this week. When my car was vandalized, it had about 45,000 miles on it. So I’ve been driving around with fag on my car for over 100,000 miles now.
In 2007, the VW Beetle owned by Davies had been targeted due to a small rainbow sticker on the car. Vandals used spray paint to show their intolerance by writing “fag” and “u r gay” on the driver’s side window and hood, creating, unbeknownst to them, the birth of the fagbug. “From where I was standing, I couldn’t read what it said so I kept walking,” says Davies, about discovering the graffiti. “When I got close enough to read it, I realized what is said. I stopped dead in my tracks in total shock.”
Choosing not to be a ‘victim’ of a hate crime, Davies saw the vandalism on her vehicle as an opportunity to help spread awareness about gay rights, and hate crimes towards the LGBT community. Davies and her vandalized VW, complete with hateful graffiti embarked on an on a 58-day video documented trip around the United States and Canada. The trip provided her the opportunity to discover other, more serious hate crimes and to interact with supporters, as well as those threatened and confused by the message. One year later, the fagbug got a makeover and became the colorful car you can see to day at any given Pride celebration.

QUEST: Are you still driving the same car, or have you had to trade in yet for a newer model?
DAVIES: Yes, I still drive the same car that was vandalized. It’s my actual car. I tell audiences all the time, “If anyone wants to buy me another car I’d gladly accept it.” It’d be great to have a car I drive in to get groceries or run errands, and another for fagbug talks or movie showings. That’s the intriguing part of the story or what people are so compelled to is that it is my everyday car, and there’s been no separation between myself and my car. It’s like were married.
I’m not famous but my car is on some level so because I drive the car, I sort of give up all anonymity and privacy, take on the risks that come along with it, and make myself vulnerable to what the general public thinks about gay people or the colors and words on my car wherever the car and I happen to be.

QUEST: How did the wrapping of the fagbug come about?
DAVIES: What started out as a 1-week experiment, turned into me committing myself to drive with the words that were spray painted on my car (fag and u r gay) for an entire year. I knew I was making the movie, planned a 58-day trip by myself across the country and decided I would document all the responses I got for a year.
At first, I didn’t think I could make it a year, but the more obstacles I had to go through, the more determined I was to complete what I set out to do. When the year mark came, I was ready at that point to remove the word fag from my window.
Imagine every single time you go to turn left in your vehicle for a year, having to look through “F A G” plastered all over your window to do so. It’s an ugly reminder of what had happened. Although my actions of leaving the words on my car took the power from whoever wrote them, the words and the car still looked hurt, wounded. I created my own rainbow sticker campaign after this happened. Rather then take the sticker I had off my car out of fear, I made my own fagbug stickers and put them on my car and encouraged others to do so. I took my sticker to a company in Hoosick Falls, NY and asked them to turn my car into my sticker and that’s what they did. I wanted to celebrate the accomplishment I made by making it to the one-year point with the graffiti on my car by turning it into something beautiful that could continue to tell the story of the fagbug.
The distributor of my film (Garden Thieves Pictures) and I are putting out a 4-inch toy rainbow bug to promote the movie. You can pre-order the toy rainbow bug at www.fagbug.com. Next, we are working on creating a line of real size rainbow Volkswagen Beetles. That’s in the works!

QUEST: Have you ever heard from the perp(s)?
DAVIES: No. To this day no one has come forward. My movie is dedicated to whoever vandalized my car. I’ve utilized the media, made a film, am working on a children’s book called The Rainbow Bug, have spoke at over 100 high schools and colleges around the US and Canada, have won awards for being in pride parades and film festivals, etc.
People often misconstrue all those things for me wanting attention. It’s really about doing enough, getting enough people to talk about it, making it visible enough, so I can know whoever did this has not only heard about my response to the graffiti, they’ve been changed, maybe even changed as much as I have. It would be one thing to tell the person how many people have been influenced, it would be another thing to show him or her. That’s why I take photographs with all the groups I speak to after every event I do and post them on my website.
Millions of people at this point have been touched by the story. I wonder sometimes what’s motivating me to do all of this, and that answer may have changed over time but I think at the core, I think the probability of meeting this person increases with time. If I give up tomorrow it’s a given it will never happen, if I continue to work on this project another 20 years, I just might get an email from someone telling me who they were 23 years ago and how much they’ve changed. People often ask me what I’d say to this person, I’d most likely develop a friendship with them because this person has single handedly changed my life for better and worse much more then another other person has.
We often want others to understand and accept us when we rarely display the courage to understand and accept the people we stereotype. On my road trip I had to look at the labels I gave people and the fear I had of certain groups (homophobes, rednecks, strangers), and I had to see people who fit into those categories as more then a stereotype. I had to invest myself into getting to know them, into finding common ground and trust. And that is what we all have to give if we expect to receive it.

QUEST: You’re planning a fagbug museum and brewery. How did that come about?
DAVIES: My girlfriend Sonya and I did a 24-page proposal to be able to turn 412 Oswego Street into the Fagbug Museum & Brewery. The building was for sale for $1 with the condition it gets renovating in an 18-month period. We close on the building July 2nd and will begin renovations this summer. The car will be on a platform display outside the building, the walls in the building will all be used to tell the story of the Fagbug with original artifacts, there will be a storefront with merchandise and memorabilia, cafe with all gay names, and a tasting area for the next phase of the Fagbug project, “Fagbrew.”
Fagbrew will be America’s first ever gay beer line! Like my car stands out on the highway, Fagbrew will evoke dialogues with the general public around homosexuality with names like homosexuALE, Queen B, 2 Beer Queer, Cub & Bear, Gaylicious, Flamer and Heffer. “Fagbrew” (currently in production) follows the inception of the museum/beer line to the grand opening/distribution.
QUEST: What can we expect to see at PrideFest?
DAVIES: I’ll be selling copies of the Fagbug DVD which is officially coming out July 13th on Netflix, at Blockbuster, Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble. This version of the film has 14 DVD extras. Along with the film, I will be selling fagbug stickers and the very first t-shirt along with 3 hot new fagbug products that coincide with the movie coming out.
I have a new poster which is a great visual to help teachers introduce the story of the fagbug in their classrooms, I have 2 new t-shirts, one has “fag” written on it and the other has “u r gay” written on it, the same way the graffiti was on my car.
The shirts are meant to evoke a dialogue the same way my driving the car did. I also will be taking pre-orders for my newest product, the 4-inch toy rainbow bug. It’s great for any true fagbug fan or Volkswagen lover!
I’m looking for some investors or donors for the fagbug museum and brewery so if anyone out there wants to help see a gay-themed museum and beer come to life, I’d love to connect.
I’m free and available to talk to anyone at the festival so please come stop by and say hello or get a picture of yourself with the fagbug!

Catch Erin Davies and the Fagbug up close and in person during PrideFest on Friday & Saturday. The Fagbug will also be featured in the Milwaukee LGBT Pride Parade on Sunday, sponsored by PrideFest.

For information on ordering the DVD, stickers or other items FagBug related, please check out the website: www.fagbug.com