Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Day of Silence observed
04.17.2009 2:24pm EDT
(Washington) Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of schools nationwide are taking part in the National Day of Silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment.
Students from more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges registered as participants in last year’s Day of Silence. This year the number is expected to be higher.Students typically participate by remaining silent throughout the school day, unless asked to participate in class.
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.
To bring attention to this problem of anti-LGBT bullying, many students will hand out speaking cards on the Day of Silence, which read: “Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today.”
Some students are holding the day this year in memory of Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old from Springfield, Mass., who took his life April 6 after enduring constant bullying at school, including anti-LGBT attacks. Carl, who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 today.
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.
A 2007 study by GLSEN of more than 6,000 LGBT students found that nearly nine out of 10 LGBT youth reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, nearly half reported being physically harassed and about a quarter reported being physically assaulted.
“The Day of Silence is a positive event during which students bring attention to the pervasive problem of anti-LGBT bullying in our nation’s schools, a problem far too often ignored,” GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said. “It is inspiring to see so many young people take action to make their schools safer.”
But some students will not hear the silent message.
A coalition of conservative Christian groups is calling on parents to pull their children out of school today.
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 joint 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.”
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.
Probably my own fault, but I do not know if any local schools are doing this. How about you and your local schools?
HERE: True story, from another post:
“For the second year in a row I get the priviledge of watching students at my school do what I was too cowardly to do when I was their age. They are standing up for themselves and using their muted voices to advocate for their rights. Last year at my school about 200 students took part in the Day of Silence. This year, I don’t have numbers yet.
As an openly gay teacher, damn never thought I would type those words, but I came out to my students last month. No one fainted out of shock in all honesty but still it was a step.
Like last year, this year’s Day of Silence is in memory of a kid killed by anti gay bullying. Last year was Lawrence King, this year it is Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover.
As much as I celebrate what my students are able to do, the stories of kids like Lawrence and Carl bring me back to the scared kidI was in middle and early high school.
It has taken some time but I am able to be proud of myself and my students. They carry themselves with dignity and grace and dare I say fierceness. I just pray for the day I don’t have to read about bullicides in my local paper.
If you are a student taking part on Friday have fun and be safe. If you are a teacher with students taking part, be cool and let them have their silence. If you are just a civilian in the education front, pray for us or at least keep us in your thoughts. We have come pretty far but need to come farther, faster to save the next Carl.”
WOW, is all I can say after reading it. May we all have teachers like this in schools.
-
I took part in the Day of Silence and i’m not any of those things but I have frends who are and i believe that if they cant stand up for themselves then we are just gonna have to do it for them.
The absent children are the ones taught to bully us. Do you suppose they’ll ever understand that? It has been ten years since I was in HS, but find myself wishing I could participate today. Perhaps if we carried it into our workplaces… The parents who pulled their children out today would see us, and recognize their own bigotry.
I know that in time they will die off, and the younger more progressive generations will take over – but parents of HS students are too young to be so hateful…we can’t wait another 60 years. Not to mention the fact that bigotry is taught through the generations…
My school (Scituate High School in RI) has April vacation next week, so we’ll be holding the Day of Silence next week. Last year was the first year we did it, and it was a great success. Almost half the school showed support by wearing stickers or wearing black, and about a fifth was silent for the entire day, which is a great achievement, especially since Scituate’s the only town in all of RI that went for McCain! I think it’s great because it shows LGBT kids that there are people who support them. It also shows kids who’ve never had a chance to see being gay as anything except wrong a different side of it and makes them at least think about it. Maybe it even makes some of them decide to to bully people for being gay.
Parents shouldn’t be allowed to take their kids out of school for this. School is about education. Let us have our Day of Silence, let them have their Day of Truth, and we’ll get educated on both sides. (Personally I think the two events are completely different, because the Day of Silence isn’t pushing a political agenda; it’s just against bullying and harassment. The Day of Truth is actually attacking a specific group.)
Check out The New York Public Library’s efforts for LGBTQ Teens
http://lgbt.nypl.org/
Teen links, The Anti Prom Blogs
as a closeted teacher in an elementary school in the bible belt, i appreciate so much the students who make the effort to participate in the day of silence. our spring vacation was this past week, so we missed it in this county. i’m not sure how much participation there would have been. i remember some of my former students telling me last year that they participated at the middle school, but i don’t know what will happen this year. it’s hard to believe how much of this bullying and name-calling actually is beginning when these kids are in my school, only 5, 6, 7, 8 years old. and yet, the powers that be don’t see this as a problem. our kids may not be sexually active (or maybe they are), but they certainly have learned that calling someone gay or queer or fag can start a fight, so it must be something wrong. how do you fight something so amorphous?