The Day of Silence is an annual student-organized day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of sexual minorities. Students take a day-long vow of silence to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBT students and their rights.
The 2006 Day of Silence was held on April 26th.
Organization
The Day of Silence is organized as a grassroots project by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in collaboration with the United States Student Association (USSA).
Students are encouraged to obtain permission from their school before organizing the event.
The GLSEN organizers are projecting that in 2006, aproximately 500,000 students at 4,000 different schools will participate.
Events
The event takes place at both college and high school level campuses. On the appointed day, students maintain verbal silence either for the entire day or a portion of the day, such as during the lunch break or during the active school hours.
During their period of silence, participating students hand out printed cards explaining the nature of their protest.
As of 2005 the "speaking cards" read:
- "Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?"
Both may be supplemented by additional text and images. Some school organizers also create pins to put on lockers and t-shirts. Also, special announcements during the day allow the event to be recognized by the school.
Ideally, the period of silence ends with a "breaking the silence" event in which participating students gather together, and participate in activism and education.
Message
The national focus of the Day of Silence is specific to ending bullying and harassment of students, particularly physical violence and verbal threats.
As with most political actions, there is passionate ongoing debate as to the specific strategies and goals. Organizers encourage Day of Silence participants to use the national template, but do support variation among participating groups. While some organizers focus the mission statement of their Day of Silence to ending institutionalized discrimination, others decide to make their message more encompassing. The Gay-Straight Alliance of Winston Churchill High School in Livonia, Michigan, for example, have made their mission statements for the Day of Silence "To send the message that hate is not tolerated" which they consider a more personal and less politically focused sentiment. Other groups focus on the day as an opportunity for the participating students to strengthen their own personal awareness of discrimination and increase their solidarity with the GLBT community.
History
The first event was organized by students at the University of Virginia in 1996.
In 1997 the event expanded to the National Day of Silence, with over one-hundred schools participating, and beginning in 1998 was promoted by the Day of Silence Project with double the participation of the last year. Their website was hosted by Youth Guardian Services [1].
The "speaking card" text was not universal in the early days of the movement. At some schools, students could choose to be silent for those oppressed by other things. These cards had a "I am being silent today in remembrance of those who have been silenced because of" followed by a blank where the student could write their own idea. This was used at several schools, such as Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in place of the original card, though later days would see all participating schools being more in line with the national documents.
The 2005 Day of Silence is reported as "the largest one-day student-led grassroots action on LGBT rights in American history" [2].
Opposition
The Christian political and legal foundation the Alliance Defense Fund has organized an annual counter-protest which they call the Day of Truth (website) which takes place on the day following the Day of Silence and whose stated purpose is "to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda". On this day, small groups of Christian students are organized to express their opinion and distribute literature that expresses their opposition to homosexuality and gay rights. As part of the effort, students who are prevented or discouraged from expressing their anti-gay beliefs are encouraged to call for legal support from the ADF on first amendment grounds. The protest is currently in its second year. The ADF reports that 1,100 students at aproximately 350 schools participated in 2005.
Other Christian groups including students and adults often organize similar opposition at their local schools to take place on the same day as the original event.
External links
- Day of Silence: Official Website