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Loading ...Conservative groups call for school boycott on Day of Silence
04.15.2009 9:37am EDT
(New York City) A coalition of conservative Christian groups is calling on parents to pull their children out of school on the National Day of Silence, scheduled to take place in hundreds of schools on Friday.
The coalition is made up of organizations that have a national history of opposing LGBT civil rights and includes The American Family Association, Campaign for Children and Families, Concerned Women for America, Liberty Council, and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays.“The implicit purpose of the Day of Silence is to undermine the belief that homosexuality is immoral,” the groups said in a statement. “It is the belief of the sponsors of the Walkout that parents should no longer passively accept the political usurpation of taxpayer- funded public school classrooms through student silence.”
The statement said that parents can express their opposition by calling their children out of school on the Day of Silence and sending letters of explanation to their administrators, their children’s teachers, and school board members.
“This day is not about ‘tolerance’ as it claims, but about forcing propaganda and acceptance of high-risk behavior into the schools with no opposing views allowed,” said Linda Harvey of Mission America.
Many of the same groups are involved in a national protest day which they call “The Day of Truth” as a response to the Day of Silence, and school districts which bar counter demonstrations are being threatened with lawsuits. It is scheduled to take place Monday April 20.
The Day of Silence was created by University of Virginia students in 1996 and became a national event in 1997. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network became the national sponsor in 2001.
A study released by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network in 2006 showed that homophobia is widespread in the nation’s schools.
Nearly one-in-five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth because of their gender expression.
Three-quarters of students surveyed said that over the past year they heard derogatory remarks such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten reported hearing “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay” – meaning stupid or worthless – frequently or often.
Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression.
The study also showed that bullying has had a negative impact on learning.
Last year’s National Day Of Silence was dedicated to the memory of 15-year-old Lawrence King.
The openly gay eighth-grader was shot by a fellow student in front of classmates in February 2008 in Oxnard, Calif. He died after being declared brain dead and life support was removed.
Brandon David McInerney, a fellow student, has been charged with murder as a hate crime.
On Monday, hundreds of people attended a funeral in Springfield, Massachusetts for Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old boy who hanged himself after enduring months of anti-gay harassment.
His mother, Sirdeaner L. Walker, said that the New Leadership Charter School did nothing to stop the bullying despite her repeated complaints to the school.
The 11-year-old did not identify as being gay, but Walker said that he suffered taunts and threats from other students who made fun of him, insulted the way he dressed and called him gay.
It was at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying, the GLSEN said.
Earlier this month, the parents of a Mentor, Ohio, high school student filed a federal lawsuit in connection with their son’s suicide.
Mohat, 17, went home from school on March 27, 2007, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
In a federal lawsuit, the parents of Eric Mohat allege that he regularly “was called ‘gay,’ ‘fag,’ ‘queer’ and ‘homo’ among other names” and that the school did nothing to prevent it.
Some 8,000 schools nationwide took part in the National Day of Silence in 2008.
fr Dr Bob:
>It is the schools responsibility to give demerits to those students pulled out by their parents, and the parents a citation for promoting truancy. There are laws against truancy and the must be enforced.<
Absolutely. Near where I live, there’s a bunch of nutballs from Eastern Europe who picket every year on Day of Silence. A couple of years ago, they found out where a hs principal lived and picketed his house. They also found out where he worshipped, and protested at his Presbyterian Church. If I was him, I’d have called the police and DEMAND they be cited for illegal STALKING.
Y’know, I’m one of the many morbidly obese individuals in the U.S. I’ve been obese since I was six years old. Throughout my entire time in school, I was constantly subjected to the whispers and stares and outright name-calling about being fat. My standard response was, “Gee thanks, I didn’t know I was fat.” But inside, I was bleeding. My self esteem took a nose dive each and every time I heard those insults. Today, at 47, I’m still fighting self-esteem issues. I’ve attempted suicide several times. All because people can’t accept those who are different.
It’s time to stop fighting with ourselves and just stand up to the people who think that we’re different just because we love those of the same sex as ourselves. No more name-calling; let’s leave that to the opponents. We need to be ourselves, not what they want us to be. It’s time and we’re worth the fight.
Not all Christians support this action by the religious right to deny children their right to hear the truth.
IN most jurisidictions, it is also illegal to keep children out of school without a valid reason. If the religious right chooses to disobey the law, they need to understand law and order applies to them as much as anyone else who disobeys the law.
Urging parents to take their children out of school on the Day of Silence is nothing new. I have been doing the Day of Silence for the past four years (this will be my fifth year) and every year parents take their children out of school specifically for that reason. Last year at my school, not only were students taken out because of the Day of Silence but parents actually called my principle and superintendent, complaining that they were allowing us to ‘turn their children gay.’ It was outrageous.
I am currently a senior in high school and I can not go one day without hearing ‘that’s so gay’, ‘fag’, ‘faggot’ and other terms used in a derogatory manner towards people. Normally it is simply ignorance and the desire to do what everyone else is doing. (Apparently it’s cool to hate gays. =/) The most physical anything has gotten is me being shoved in the halls though. I tend to ignore people when they speak against me.
The Day of Silence is always the worse though. I still do not get in fights since I do not react but I cannot go a minute in the halls without people yelling ‘dyke’ at me. The ignorance of people at my school astounds me. But I think we all need to realize they are learning it from groups like these they claim it is wrong to stand up for the homosexual community. This is why we NEED the Day of Silence. At least until they learn that we are not going to go back in our closests just because it’s more comforting for them. As long as I can and as long as it is necessary I will continue doing the Day of Silence and show my support for the LGBT rights movement.
Rhonda:
A mandatory test with no talking kinda undercuts the entire point of a day of Silence, right?
And you cannot – by law – administer a test that ‘cannot be made up’ if an absence is excused (as all are if a parent requests). ALL tests can be ‘made up’ if an excuse if valid. And I have never seen one that was not if a parent requested it.
Go ahead, let the little heathens stay out of school. But be sure the absence is listed as UNEXCUSED and encourage teachers to give a test on that day that cannot be made up without a doctor’s excuse. Let them know there are consequences for bigotry.
As a high school history teacher, I would turn this against the parents involved.
On TUESDAY – the day after the event – i would amend my lesson plan and spend the period COVERING THE HISTORY OF THE DAY AND THE REASONS FOR THE ‘MISSING STUDENTS” FROM THE PREVIOUS DAYS CLASSES>
In other words – I now have a perfectly valid and legal excuse to turn an entire classroom day over to teaching GLBT history and current events.
Who could ask for more?
Thank you, 365 gay staff, for writing this beautiful article.
I’ve only one ray of light to add to this article: those despicable bigots chose the wrong day to express their perverted, contemptible sense of the “truth.” Monday is 420 and if that isn’t ironic and hallarious I don’t know.
I don’t think that Christian LOVE in this case is LOVE at all, but HATE!
You know what I think is somewhat amusing but also quite frightening- that the more society moves towards being tolerant the more asinine these ignorant bigots behavior becomes.
Such fanatical paranoia.
Fighting a “Day of Silence” with a “Day of Truth” to silence the truth.
The Christian Talibani mind at work folks *applauds*. It’s downright Machiavellian. If Lucifer is the “King of Lies” then I know which camp these folks draw their inspiration from.
Why is there such a huge problem about that day? Is acknowledgment of it too much to handle? Certain religious holidays, most notably Christmas, are acknowledged by canceling school for the time around them, while no time is taken off for the holidays of religions that aren’t so prominent, such as Hanukkah.
But what’s really painful is that there are all these organizations that are fighting against homosexuality, when it’s none of their business. I want to know how the fact that a person is gay affects them, and whatever happened to ’separation of church and state.’
i guess as long as the country tolerates
people whose only reason to live is to bully torment and preach hate in the name of godthis will always be a problem. to them god is a loving being as long as you think their way. organized religion uses hate to build their image among their followers and it keeps the folllowers distracted.
Why does anybody have any reluctance at painting these people for what they truly are? They’re bigots, just like those who burn crosses or other backwards crap like that. They’re no different than the people who shot Medgar Evers(sp?) in his own driveway. Just change racism for homophobia. “Oh, you’re attacking me for my religion! I’m a victim! I’m a victim!” Some people are stupid enough to fall for that routine. Don’t let them get away with it. Back them into a corner. Make them the out-group. Highlight their urge to discriminate. They show pictures from Folsom Street? Show some from a Klan rally. Keep them on the defensive, like roaches.