Ain’t no time to hate
In 1991 there was a conversation on The WeLL about gay deadheads. The conversation came around to perceived homophobia, or lack of welcome, at Dead shows, and what we might do about it. In true deadhead fashion, we decided to print stickers and give them away.
The stickers were the Grateful Dead’s Steel-Your-Face logo, with a pink triangle replacing the lightening bolt, and the words “Ain’t No Time To Hate” running around the outside. (I still have thousands of these stickers in my apartment. Maybe I’ll scan one some day so you can see what they looked like. If you want some, drop me a line.)
We printed tens-of-thousands of the stickers, and I personally handed out thousands. It was amazing to walk around the parking lot of a show, or circulate inside a venue, just giving something away. I got to meet and talk to many cool people. Almost everybody accepted the sticker with a smile and I can’t recall any negative reaction because of what the stickers stood for. People would slap the stickers on their shirts or jackets, and after a while it seemed like everyone who passed by was wearing one. I imagine many intermission or post-show conversations about “what does this mean” and kids putting it together that it’s ok to be gay or that it’s in keeping with the deadhead community to welcome brothers and sisters with all kinds of sexual orientations. (Being a deadhead used to mean being part of a big, welcoming community, which is what attracted me in the first place, I think. Giving stuff away, randomly, was a community-building activity. It was not uncommon for someone to affix supermarket produce stickers on random strangers, for example. Our Ain’t No Time To Hate stickers fit perfect into that tradition.)
In fact, a few years ago, way before I met Brian, I randomly encountered a young man on craigslist who told me that seeing our message on a tshirt (someone — David Gans, perhaps — had tshirts made at some point) inspired him to come out. He told me that before he knew that I had anything to do with the stickers.
So anyway, it came to pass that in 1992 Idaho and Colorado had anti-gay initiatives on their ballots. These initiatives would have rolled back existing equal-protection legistlation or made such legislation unconstitutional in the state. The Dead were scheduled to play in Denver after the voters of Colorado approved their anti-gay amendment. On the WeLL, we discussed a boycott, and decided against it (it would only hurt people in Colorado who probably voted in our favor). Instead, we got together — hundreds of us — and raised the money to put up a billboard outside the arena in which the Dead were playing.
We did this with the Dead’s permission. Jerry Garcia, in an interview on MTV around that time, indicated that he knew about, and supported, what we were trying to do. It got front page coverage in the local media in Colorado. David Gans described the stickers and the billboard in an interview.
Ultimately, of course, Colorado’s Amendment 2 was overturned, just as the billboard suggested — with the help of one of George Bush’s Supreme Court nominees. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts’ surprising pro-bono work in favor of overturning it. I grabbed the image from ABC News, which used it as a backdrop for the story about Roberts’ pro-bono work. I was thrilled that Brian saw the story, noticed the image, and told me about it, before he knew the details of the stickers. He recognized the steelie because of my tattoo.
Holy cow. I think I contributed money to help with that billboard. I used to have that t-shirt and I used to hand out those stickers at shows. Small world!
I’d love to get a few more of those stickets if you still have any.
Comment by Dumbek — February 10, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
Hello,
I was given one of these stickers at show maybe RFK ‘93, it was
before I came out, but I stuck it one my GEO Metro, when I was 16, it gave
my parents a hint, anyway, I would love some more of these stickers if
you have them, I would love to pass them again at shows, I live in
Denver, if you could mail them I would greatly appreciate it!!!
Megan Branham
3119 West 21st Ave
Denver, CO 80211
Peace, Megan
Comment by megan branham — February 20, 2006 @ 2:49 pm
WOW… Finally!
I feel like I’ve finally made it Home!
See what happens when you google “Ain’t No Time To Hate”…
I’ve been looking for years to find some of these stickers, and would be very interested in obtaining some to pass on the message…
I’ve also tried to contact David Gans quite a while back in regard to T-shirts, but to no avail.
…On my website I have an image of the sticker, and I guess I should ask your permission to leave it up.
There is a quote accompanying the image from “Skeleton Key: A Dictionary For Deadheads” there also. It Reads:
“To be a Deadhead is to live at the boundaries of social convention, and the status of homosexuals in American culture has likewise been that of outlaws. Both Deadheads and queers assert the sovereignty of the individual over society’s idea of what it means to be a man or woman, and both are privy to insights about oneself as an evolving spiritual being that come only from viewing one’s own culture from the *outside in.* The values which appear fixed and rigid to an unquestioning member of the mainstream culture appear fixed and relative to an outsider. In the instant of seizing the opportunity for personal autonomy, growth, and self- exploration, Deadheads and queers share the transcendent experience of “being in the world but not of it.”
I can’t wait to hear from you, Bro
Peace,
=RD=
Comment by RanibowDemon — February 24, 2006 @ 9:29 am
The sticker isn’t mine — I’d like to think it’s all of ours, and I love that you’ve got it on your site. I may steal the image, if it’s ok with you.
Contact information here at the link below. Send me your US Mail address and I’ll send some stickers.
http://www.larryperson.com/blog/2004/11/01/how-to-contact-me
PS: I’ve been on your site before. It’s cool.
Comment by Administrator — February 24, 2006 @ 11:57 pm
Great post Larry. I remember those stickers! I had only been out for a short time and it helped me to know that there were other gay dead heads around as well.
I also remember the Radical Faeries. I was at my first SF gay pride parade
and at the very end of the parade, here come these dancing hippies banging drums and waving rainbow flags. Then, after them came Jerry’s Faeries. I was so psyched I actually jumped in and marched to City Hall Plaza with them!!
We really are everywhere!
Comment by Lee — February 25, 2006 @ 2:24 pm
I came out 2 years ago and found it very difficult to relate to the music and lifestyles of my new gay/lesbian friends.
They’d gawk at my old tie-dye shirts, stacks of Dead, Zappa, WSP, Doors, Jefferson Airplane, CSNY, and other “hippie” stuff…
I tried to explain to a number of my friends that deadheads believe (in general) in existing in peace with everyone and
allowing people to be themselves…it was a bit like banging my head against a brick wall at times…I am gay but very deadicated…
Are there more of us out there in Denver??? I’d love to get one of the stickers for my truck…
Tim
Denver, CO
Comment by Tim — April 11, 2006 @ 12:50 pm