Q&A | Fagbug's Erin Davies

Erin Davies felt shocked and confused when she saw it. In Albany in April 2007, someone wrote "U R Gay" in bright red on the hood and "fag" on the driver's window of her gray Volkswagen Beetle. The dramatic statement shocked the 32-year-old.

"I'm 32 now, and I've been out since I was 17. It's kind of like writing 'Your name is Erin' or 'You have brown eyes' or 'You're 5 ft. 4.' It's just stating the obvious," she says.

Unable to secure a rental car for a few days, Davies rode around town in the Beetle. The car evoked a number of responses from bystanders. Some even stopped Davies in the middle of traffic to talk about it. Inspired by the reactions, she pledged to drive the car — affectionately renamed "Fagbug" —

for a week to raise awareness about homophobia. That week turned into a 58-day, cross-country road trip and, eventually, a feature-length documentary. Now the Baldwinsville native lives in downtown Syracuse and works on her second documentary, a follow-up to 2009's Fagbug, in between speaking engagements around the country.

Davies recently sat down with Salt to talk about her films.

Salt: It's fascinating to me that something that was just a mode of transportation for you became so consuming. It changed what you were doing with your life.

Erin Davies: Yeah, it really has. Now I've spent almost four years

documenting people's reactions to the car. It's really powerful that my car gives people permission to voice their feelings on this topic and to connect and talk to me. If you think about it, being gay is not like a skin color. I could walk through somewhere without knowing how homophobic people are. But the fact that I drive my car, it's like I'm literally painting my body rainbow and saying, "I'm gay. Talk to me about everything you feel about homosexuality."

S: But did you imagine those conversations would continue for four years?

ED: I didn't think it would go on for this long. I really had no idea that it would interrupt my everyday life like

this. So in some ways it's very powerful. But there are some things I sacrificed to do it. And now the car is an icon.

S: Were you afraid for your safety on the road?

ED: Well, I had never gone on a cross-country road trip before. I especially had never done a trip like that by myself. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. Worst-case scenario: I get shot or killed. Because I felt afraid, I asked myself, "Why should a person feel so afraid to travel the country with that writing on their car?" Your life shouldn't be at risk. And the idea that it was at risk made me feel even more compelled to go.

S: So the reality of hate crime

fueled you to some extent?

ED: There had been a number of murders and hate crimes in the first few cities I stopped in. It was eye-opening for me to realize the extent of the violence. At one stop in my trip, I found out there were three men who were murdered there within one month of my car getting vandalized, and they were killed for being gay. It was a lot for me to know that I was taking my car to those places.

S: What was the scariest moment of your trip?

ED: The scariest moment of my trip actually had nothing to do with me being gay. I was driving through Wyoming when my fuel gauge fell to "E." There were no gas stations and I

wasn't getting cell phone reception. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere, unable to connect to people, and you're about to run out of gas.

S: What happened? Who helped you?

ED: I eventually pulled over and a police officer came up next to me. Even in that situation, almost being stranded, talking to the officer was awkward because of my car. And it was awkward because he was asking me questions about it and discussing it. But I did eventually get gas.

S: Were there any places you didn't get to on your trip that you wish you had?

ED: Yeah, I didn't get to go to

Texas. But in October, I decided to do a two-week trip there. And I'm doing a follow-up film that includes places I didn't go before. The only other states are North and South Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Alaska.

S: What kind of feedback did you get to the documentary when it was first released?

ED: I sent the documentary to 100 film festivals when it was released. It was my first feature film, and I learned a lot as I went through it. Now I know how to get a film distributed, how to get it into festivals. Out of the 100 that I applied to, I got into more than 30 of them. The film was really well-received. I also toured with the film afterward, taking it to colleges and

high schools and doing talks there.

S: Have people told you that the film changed their minds about homophobia or homosexuality?

ED: Yeah, absolutely. One girl who saw my car was very religious and against homosexuality. But then I gave her a copy of my film, and I got a Facebook message from this girl. She was like, "I'm sorry I was so mean." She said she cried and felt terrible. So I think the film demands a certain respect. I went back to interview that girl — a lot of the interviews came about that way.

S: When do you expect to finish the follow-up film?

ED: I'm not sure yet, but probably

within the next year and a half. The first film I filmed for one year, and I took two years off in between. I've shot about 35 hours of footage at this point.

S: What has life been like for you since making the first film? How has this whole Fagbug journey affected you?

ED: Well, I was always into film. I worked on a documentary in 2003. I went to grad school and tried to become an art teacher. I had always been an artist and done creative projects on the side. But making a film is really intense. And anyone who has made a documentary knows it's really not an easy process. I had to raise $100,000 to make the first film. I hired an editor, and it took us 19 months to

edit the film, working on it every day.

S: Do you intend to do more films in the future?

ED: People have asked me, "Are you a filmmaker? Are you an artist? Are you an activist? What are you?" And I feel like I'm many different things. I'd like to be a filmmaker. After Fagbug, I really believe that if you feel passionate about something, you can do something different. Most people relate to what I do because I get to have fun while doing it.

S: So how many miles are on your car now?

ED: About 168,000. Before it got vandalized, it was at about 50,000.