New grassroots gay activists are striking again. Today's Day Without A Gay workstoppage protest is just another example of their newly found power.

The protest asks gays and lesbians to call off work and attend marches and rallies or do volunteer work instead.

While the new gay activism sprung forth nearly fully formed to protest the passage of Proposition 8 – the California constitutional amendment approved by a slim majority of voters on Nov. 4 that restricts marriage to heterosexual partners – it appears to have mushroomed into a broader expression of gay rights, not simply the right to gay marry.

The new gay activists have managed to tap the Prop 8 outrage and sculpt it into sizeable pro-gay displays, all the while rejecting traditional suit-and-tie gay activists and their passive checkbook activism.

Not all owners of gay businesses in the Castro, San Francisco's vibrant gay district, are behind the idea. Several said the boycott was impractical and counterproductive with the economy in a tailspin.

But organizers say that's just the meat of the theatre – to highlight the economic benefit gays and lesbians bring to the table.

Sean Hetherington, a 30-something stand-up comedian from West Hollywood, California, coined the phrase Day Without A Gay. He's urging protesters to use the time off to do volunteer work.

“We didn't want this to be another white powder sent to the Mormon temple,” Hetherington told the Los Angeles Times, referring to widely criticized mailings sent to the church when emotions over the loss of Prop 8 were still running high. (The white powder turned out to be nontoxic.)

Hetherington says he hopes the protest he helped bring about will be viewed as “doing something positive.”

The epicenter of today's events is located in San Francisco where no fewer than three marches and rallies, including one directly in the Castro, are set to cap off the day.

“There is a lot of both anger and activism that is coming out of voters eliminating people's rights,” said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, who welcomed the new activists.

“The more people talk about the issue ... the more we advance our rights,” he said.

Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, agreed.

“Leaders of established organizations who resist welcoming new energy, new creativity, new involvement make a mistake,” Wolfson said in a statement. “We need more people speaking to more people ... It is conversations – person to person, group to group – over time that creates the needed climate for true social and legal change for justice.”

The new gay activism is showing no signs of cooling off nearly five weeks after Election Day. Day Without A Gay is only the latest example of this.