Asheea Smith

Hate crimes and discrimination happen every day in our society. But this particular act of discrimination would be one that changed the life of a New Yorker named Erin Davies forever.

In 2007, at around 9:45 AM a shocked and alarmed Davies returned to her new Volkswagen Beetle to find it had been vandalized. The red spray paint read “Fag”, and “U R Gay.” Was it someone from her neighborhood? Someone who knew her? She didn’t know.

This was the day her life took a turn for not the worst, but for the better.

She turned her vandalized vehicle into a “campaign on wheels.” She journeyed for 58 days across the U.S. and Canada to spread the awareness of hate crimes and homophobia. Now, I bet you’re asking yourself, how the heck did she take a campaign on wheels? Did she strap a sign to her back and hop on her bike? Absolutely not! She got permission from Volkswagen personally via phone call, to turn her car into what is now a “Fagbug.” The entire body of the Fagbug is rainbow striped with the word Fagbug across the side. Erin says she chose to take her campaign on wheels so everyone could receive the message, women and men.

During the trip she encountered many memorable moments including people in Salt Lake City boycotting her. Ironically, she had the least support from her hometown, and most of the negative feedback she received toward her campaign was from homosexuals.

“You would think that homosexuals would support someone who is willing to fight for their rights and mine, but that wasn’t the case at all,” a confused Erin says.

Of course there would be those against her for supporting something so controversial, but Erin says there were people across the country willing to help, including complete strangers agreeing to pay for her gas. Anyways, All these people played a part in getting her campaign going.

“I couldn’t sit around waiting for people to come help me,” Said Davies, “ I had to put myself out there and find it.”

Erin says she never thought the campaign would turn out to be such a success, and her motivation came from people’s stories. To her surprise, her friend had bought the www.fagbug.com website, and when she began to advertise– the momentum picked up very quickly!

Through hard work and dedication she gathered sponsors, the UK offered a ton of help, and her public speaking gigs also aided in funding the now growing project.

Erin`s mission is to take a negative and make it into a positive.

“Instead of feeling like you have done something wrong, have confidence,” is her advice to teens that are going through a sexual identity crisis.  She hopes teens will reach out to people like her who support and understand. Erin also believes the stereotypes against homosexuals must be abolished. Instead, she suggests that they get to know her.

“Its almost impossible to hate someone when you have something in common with them.”

For more information, or to buy a copy of FagBug you can visit www.Fagbug.com.