Broadway without gay actors for the Republican National Convention?by J.A. Lopata
What if the Republicans threw a party and nobody showed up? That’s what a group of anti-Republican New Yorkers are hoping will happen on September 1. The organization Shut It Down NYC (SIDN) is asking hospitality and entertainment professionals of all stripes to call in sick that day. The group is particularly targeting gay actors in the eight Broadway shows that Republican delegates have tickets to for that evening. The idea is that gay performers would be more willing to take a stand in disrupting entertainment to Republicans who have been trying to pass a U.S. constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex couples from marriage. SIDN has gone so far as to publish on the web the names, pictures and work addresses of the casts of the shows (none of which include any gay characters or gay themes, not easy to do on the gay-heavy Great White Way). For more information on the project, connect to www.ShutItDownNYC.com. This piece first appeared in "In Newsweekly: New England's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender newspaper." August 19, 2004
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