EFF
I went to the chiropractor on Tuesday and then went around the corner to the EFF protest at Macy's (after a quick lunch at VegTime). It was pretty exciting -- a bunch of EFF staff members were dressed up in elegant wedding dresses, and we picketed with signs criticizing Macy's privacy policy for about an hour and a half while playing wedding songs and songs about weddings ("If You Want to Be Happy For the Rest of Your Life", "White Wedding", "Chapel of Love", etc. -- unfortunately not "Love and Marriage"). It was very entertaining, and lots of people took copies of a little information sheet about consumer privacy issues. (Macy's shares bridal registry information with other companies -- hence the bridal theme.)
Stanton McCandlish was the only person to dress up in something other than a wedding dress; he wore an elegant full-dress kilt.
People walking by were most likely to take printed information from men in dresses, but they were most likely to stop and talk to women.
At one point, a little girl started laughing and pointing at Will Doherty, who was in a dress. I can easily believe that it was the first time she'd ever seen a man in a dress. She seemed to be laughing frantically. As soon as she had passed Will, the adult man she was with -- it seemed to be a school field trip -- took her to task and shouted at her "That is so disrespectful! How dare you?". I don't think Will was offended, though, although no doubt he would have liked the girl to have gained the insight that sometimes some men wear dresses. (I remember the Cross-Dressing Dance at NMH sponsored by HBH -- and I remember going to college thinking "Doesn't everybody's high school have an annual Cross-Dressing Dance?". Answer: nope.) But this man was really worked up that the little girl had laughed and pointed at somebody; he really wanted her to show respect and decorum. It's an interesting issue, because Will was wearing that outfit that day specifically in order to attract attention, and indeed he'd just given a long interview to a couple of TV stations, had received marriage proposals from men walking by, and I had been dancing around to "Chapel of Love" waving two big signs saying "Protect Pre-Marital Privacy" and "Honey, I'm sorry I helped Macy's violate your privacy". So it seems that a little girl laughing at him was the least of Will's problems, and indeed that little girl's friends all enthusiastically took flyers from one of the EFF staffers on their way past. It's an education!
After that, I went by the EFF office.
