Jewelers Create ‘Say Gay’ Stickers in Response to Anti-LGBTQ Bills
Indiana business owners known for embracing social justice causes say bills targeting the LGBTQ community are a form of "hate."
The owners of a jewelry store in Zionsville, Indiana, have printed stickers to show their support for the LGBTQ community as the state’s Republican-run legislature pushes through legislation targeting that community.
Robert and Rose-Marie Goodman printed the stickers, which are about the size of a silver dollar pancake and boast the words “Say Gay,” in response to a bill that would force school administrators to notify parents when their kids change gender or pronoun identities, according to LGBTQ Nation.
The measure, House Bill 1608, passed the Indiana House last Thursday.
On the day after the bill passed, the Goodmans had about 400 stickers on hand to share with customers.
Indiana lawmakers are also pushing other anti-LGBTQ bills this session, including a bill to bar minors from accessing gender-affirming care, and a bill to allow therapists to practice so-called “conversion therapy” on their patients based on the therapist’s personal religious beliefs.
Robert Goodman has condemned the wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation — not only in Indiana, but nationwide — as harmful and animus-driven.
“It’s hate, pure and simple,” he said of the politicians pushing such bills. “They can’t accept that some people do things in a way that they don’t, and in a way that they may not understand.”
The Goodmans are known for being vocal about social activism ever since opening their store in 2002. They have posted signs on the door of their business declaring it a “gun-free space,” stating “Hate has no home here,” and flying both Pride and “Black Lives Matter” flags inside their store.
“We don’t shy away from talking about these types of topics,” Goodman told LGBTQ Nation. “We talk about systemic racism, and the need to end it. We talk about books. We have a lending table with Ruby Bridges [a book about the first Black child to integrate an all-white New Orleans school in 1960] and a book called New Kid [about a Black student at a mostly white private school], a Koran. We’ve got both one and two of Maus [a two-part graphic novel about the Holocaust], we’ve got another book called Daddy and Dada, All Are Welcome, Heather Has Two Mommies, All Boys Are Blue [all LGBTQ-themed books for young people].”
The Goodmans also routinely hold events celebrating Jewish and Muslim holidays like Hanukkah and Ramadan, and their jewelry selection includes a focus on Black designers, as well as a selection of sustainable designs with “low environmental impact” and “more community benefits.”
“I’m sure there are people who don’t approve of what we think, and they may not come into our store, but that’s their choice,” Goodman said. “That’s what free choice is all about, isn’t it? To choose where you go and whom you do business with, and we respect that.”
But he notes that, overall, the store has largely been embraced by the Zionsville community.
Goodman said that the store will continue to print the “Say Gay” stickers and make available to anyone who asks for them, whether in person or online.
Since posting about the stickers’ availability on Instagram, Goodman says the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I’ve only got one guy who made negative comments,” he said, laughing. “He told us to move to San Francisco.”
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