Day of Silence:

Raising awareness
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

This Friday, April 25, students across the nation will be recognizing the Day of Silence, a day devoted to raising awareness for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual issues. However, the day has incited much controversy among national and local groups.

The Day of Silence is sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national education organization working to ensure that schools are safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The annual day is designed to be a "student-led day of action," when students can bring attention to mistreatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their allies, according to GLSEN.

GLSEN encourages students who would like to participate to observe a daylong silence during school hours, to wear stickers and to pass out "speaking cards."

The 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 in schools. 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 those injustices.
Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you doing to end the silence?"

The first Day of Silence was held at the University of Virginia in 1996, GLSEN became the event's official organizational sponsor in 2001. For more information, visit dayofsilence.org.

Though the day has been recognized in years before at Watauga High School, plans to have an organized recognition of the Day of Silence this year have not surfaced. Past efforts have been organized by the school's Diversity Club, but the club has not reported any organized effort this year, though individual students may wish to recognize the day on their own.

The Day of Silence has been organized as an event by an extracurricular club and is not considered a school-sponsored event.

While supporters of the effort promote it as a nonviolent, nonconfrontational way of raising awareness, opponents of the day are urging parents to keep their students out of school on Friday.

The American Family Association, a nonprofit focusing on traditional family values, asks parents to call or write to school administrators, telling them their child will not attend school on the Day of Silence. The organization argues that by remaining silent on this specified day, participating students disrupt class time "while promoting the homosexual lifestyle." For more information visit afa.net.

Another opposing group is the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Christian legal group. The ADF sponsors a counter-protest called the Day of Truth, which will be recognized on Monday, April 28. The day was "established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective." This will be the fourth year that the Day of Truth has been recognized.

The ADF argues that, in the past, students who wish to "speak against the promotion of the homosexual agenda have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their beliefs." The Day of Truth was designed to give those individuals a chance to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech, which the ADF says has been denied them in the past.

During the Day of Truth, students are encouraged to pass out cards reading: "I'm speaking the truth to break the silence. True tolerance means that people with differing — even opposing — viewpoints can freely exchange ideas and respectfully listen to each other. It's time for an honest conversation about homosexuality. There's freedom to change in you want to. Let's talk."

Watauga County schools superintendent Bobbie Short said that she and other administrators have been contacted by parents concerned with activities of the day. She said she has heard of no established plans to recognize the Day of Silence and anticipates that Friday will be a normal school day.

Short said students who do wish to recognized the day are free to do so. but they are to answer when called to speak in class. Students may elect to recognize the day's silence in the corridors and during lunch.

Though she hopes no students will choose to be absent on Friday, Short said those who do not come to school because of the Day of Silence will receive an excused absence.

Day of Silence celebrations at universities and colleges have not experienced the controversies of those in public grade schools.

Appalachian State University's SAGA and TransAction clubs will be encouraging their classmates to become involved in the day. There will be a contact table with information about the Day of Silence in the student union on Friday. At 5 p.m. those who participated or anyone interested can attend a "breaking of the silence" in the amphitheater on Locust Street, near the student union.