ASU students, along with about 250 businesses nationwide, participated in a nationwide boycott Friday in hopes of raising awareness about issues in the gay community.
Participants boycotted the U.S. economy by not going to work and not purchasing goods and services.
Dale Duncan, founder and organizer of the boycott, said that to his knowledge, about 250 businesses closed their doors on Friday.
"We're thrilled that we had any reaction at all," he said. "We're thrilled people are discussing it and it's being debated in our community."
Boycott for Equality was meant to demonstrate the impact the gay community has on the economy Duncan said.
"There are over a thousand benefits that we are denied on the federal and state level simply because we're gay and cannot get married," he said. "Yet heterosexuals can go to Las Vegas and get married to a stranger at a drive-thru window just like ordering a Big Mac."
ASU students who participated in the boycott included members of Gamma Rho Lambda, a sorority that is part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer coalition.
Marketing senior Christopher Chan said he participated in the boycott by not going to work on Friday.
"I feel like it is very important to remind the lawmakers of this county that gay people are tax paying, hard working, and big spending citizens," he said.
English sophomore Andrew Paschal said the boycott was a good plan to upset people, but not to affect change.
"The people who care most about money in America are the people who care least about gay rights," he said.
Brien Kunemund, a digital 3-D imaging and animation sophomore, said one day of boycott would not make a difference and did not participate.
"There's a better way to send the same message," he said. "We should, instead, buy our products from companies with responsible attitudes in regards to discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace and boycott those who do not."
Rhett Etherton, a multilingual and multicultural elementary education senior and president of Act Out, an ASU student group within the LGBTQ Coalition, said a difference would be made even if only one person participated in the East Valley.
"They will talk to their friends about why they didn't go to work today and their co-workers will learn about it," he said. "There's a real power to just personal decisions."
Reach the reporter at shaina.levee@asu.edu.
