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A graduate of Oak Grove High School in San Jose and former resident of several Marin County towns, Teri Yale's formative years in the Bay Area left an indelible mark. Many of her best friends growing up were gay men, and several family members have come out of the closet.

She has always tried to instill in her own children, two daughters and a stepdaughter, a sense of acceptance for people unlike themselves. It was an ideal she carried with her from the liberal enclaves of California to the cold climes of Michigan when she moved in 1991.

In 2001, Yale and her second husband packed up their family and moved to the small rural community of Mason, about 14 miles south of Lansing, Michigan's capital. Her husband works for the state and the move reduced his commute time.

"Believe it or not we picked this town over several others because we heard it had a great reputation, wonderful schools, a sense of community, that kind of thing. We purposefully moved here for that reason," said Yale.

That same year her youngest daughter entered high school as a freshman and befriended a senior male student who was out as gay. The two founded a gay-straight alliance at their school. Apart from school administrators' wish they change the name of the group to be a "diversity club," Yale said the GSA generated little controversy.

"You can't force your own feelings and opinions on another person. That is how I tried to raise my kids," said Yale, whose girls attend gay Pride in Lansing each year. "You have to be respectful of everybody else."

Over a year ago Yale opened Davey's Basement in downtown Mason. The small store carried everything from music and T-shirts to novelty items and a small section of LGBT items. From the day it opened, her store was a hit with the local kids who would not only come to shop but hang out.

"We were doing pretty good," said Yale.

But overnight last fall business dropped. The kids who normally flocked to her shop no longer came by. Puzzled at the disappearance of her normally loyal shoppers, Yale at first didn't realize there was a much larger problem than just stocking the wrong clothing.

One day a girl from the middle school came in, and Yale mentioned to her how she hadn't seen her or her friends in a while.

"She said, 'So and so's mom said she couldn't come in here again.' We assumed she was grounded," recalled Yale. But the girl's friend told Yale that "her mom said you guys have the gay store and she can't come in here."

Yale's sin, at least to her neighbors, was sponsoring the homecoming parade float built by the GSA. Her tacit acceptance had provoked a backlash. The community was reportedly shunning her business.

After the parade in late September, sales at her small store plummeted. Many of her shoppers' parents, upset at her decision to sponsor the GSA float, no longer allowed their children to come in to the shop, said Yale.

"All summer long we had so many kids in here it wasn't funny. We would have to kind of limit how many kids could come in at once," said Yale of the store she opened just before Christmas in 2005. "Now if we get 10 kids in a week we are doing good. We'll probably have to close."

The boycott turned Yale into a minor cause celeb for the LGBT community in the Midwest. The local alternative and gay press reported on the story, and gay bloggers picked it up and posted links on their Web sites. Soon people from around the country were e-mailing Yale and trying to shop online at the store's Web site, www.daveysbasement.com, which was then targeted by a hacker and crashed.

While locals continued to avoid her store, the attention of people from outside the area soon faded. This past Christmas season was terrible, said Yale, who is now contemplating whether it is financially prudent to remain open. She has already scrapped plans to expand into a bigger space.

"The last three months we have not been meeting our expenses. We have had to spend our own money," said Yale. "Christmas did not pull us through. We did better last Christmas time as far as sales and customers. This year we have not had any customers or sales."

Former Monterey resident Scott Fullerton blogged about Yale's store on his Web site www.TheGayGuru.net and contacted her to offer his support. Now living in Youngstown, Ohio, the 43-year-old gay man said Yale's story struck a nerve for not only him but many of his blog readers.

"I read the story and couldn't believe because someone stood up for gay high school students and straight high school students that there was a boycott," said Fullerton. "I think that most of the time we are used to seeing gay people being discriminated against. When it is a GSA and we are working with the community to break down barriers and see it is hurting our kids, that hits a chord with us."

Fullerton said it would be shameful to see Yale lose her business for taking a supportive stand for gay students. He has been in contact with Yale over the last several months to offer his assistance in keeping her doors open.

"For someone to be shut down because of their willingness to reach out to others and to help high school students is really sad," he said. "I told her I would help her go online. I think she can be successful."

In that way, Fullerton said not just LGBT people living in the Great Lakes region but anyone with computer access and a stake in the fight for gay rights could help keep Yale in business.

"If it happens one place it is going to happen another place. Yes, this is one person in the middle of the heartland in Michigan. But wherever you happen to be if you are not united they will win, those people who do not want your children, whether gay or straight, to get together and learn about each other culturally," said Fullerton.

Jan Stevenson, co-publisher of the Detroit-based LGBT newspaper Between the Lines agreed. Her paper wrote about the controversy and has offered Yale free advertising worth about $1,400 in the weekly paper. The first ad hits today, in the Thursday, January 4 edition. She said the discriminatory reaction to Yale's store isn't a surprise but Stevenson is hopeful readers of her paper will be able to counteract the boycott.

"It is a struggle out here. Our hope is our ad campaign will help them stay in business and offset what the boycott has done to them," said Stevenson, an Ohio native. "It has definitely hurt them. We are hoping our community will replace the revenue that has been lost. It takes courage to open a [LGBT supportive] shop in the middle of cow country."

She said the struggles being faced by a straight storeowner in Michigan should be of importance to LGBT people living in the relative security of gay-friendly places like San Francisco and New York.

After all, said Stevenson, "This is where change is going to happen by changing the hearts and minds in a small rural town in Michigan. They deserve our support."

Help on the way

Help is on the way for Yale, who said that by mid-January she probably would need to make a final decision on whether she will shutter her doors for good. The band Minor Planets, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan, learned about Yale's plight and offered to play a benefit concert to help her raise money.

Band member Doug Chase, 30, said a bandmate who is transgender heard about the boycott from an e-mail list. Chase, who is straight and grew up in Detroit, said the entire band felt it important to reach out to Yale.

"We believe support for high school groups is especially important. During these years, homophobia can be most damaging to LGBT youths' self-esteem," wrote Chase in an e-mail in response to questions. "It's absurd that people would boycott a store for this reason – simply for supporting a GSA. It's unfortunate that Teri was singled out like this. We immediately felt that we should do something about this and leverage what little social influence we might have in the area. We're working on securing a venue and support from local organizations now."

As she contemplates what to do with her business, Yale said she has no regrets and would offer her support again to the GSA. At times though, she does get angry at being caught up in the culture wars over homosexuality.

"I don't care what side of the fence you are on. But you don't have the right to financially ruin me because of what I do," she said.

Uncomfortable asking strangers to bail her out, Yale had hoped her holiday season profits would be enough to move her shop to the capital and start afresh. She has her eyes on a space available across the street from a progressive bookstore.

"I don't want to give up my business. I love my store," she said. "If we could generate the funds I would like to move to Lansing.

London's Second Investiture

Dear friends and family of the Diamond

This is just an email on behalf of myself, Regent Grand Duke and her majesty, Grand Duchess Nancy to ask any and all Members of the Court Sytem that if u are intending on attending our 2nd Investiture to please email me back with a list of who is planning on coming. I need to have the information asap so the both of us can sit and start our line up of titles to be given out and so we can plan on who to invite to the dais, and have for guest performers. Performances r by invite only, sorry, so, knowing in advance will give us a chance to make a list of out of town ppl we could love to have grace our stage. Remember, Investiture 2 is Switch Nite, hehehe...this will be a fun evening.

Thank you in advance
Robert Carrington-Sugarbaker
rob3565@hotmail.com

Town boycotts store over gay stance

by Matthew S. Bajko THE BAY AREA REPORTER m.bajko@ebar.com