Mountain GLBTQ Group

Copied from "Respect" the GLSEN Newsletter
"Student Silence Speaks Volumes"

Armed with nothing more than the will to make a difference and a handful of cards, Andrea started the morning as the sole participant in her high schools' Day of Silence. She had no way of knowing that by the end of the day dozens of classmates would join her in silent protest, and many more would be discussing the problem of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in their school.

"My school doesn't allow us to have a Gay-Straight Alliance or to hang up posters or anything like that," said Andrea, a freshman at a Catholic high school in Louisiana. "The only way to promote the Day of Silence was through word-of-mouth.

As Andrea's classmates began asking about her silence, she showed them speaking cards provided by GLSEN that explained what Day of Silence was all about: a nationwide, student-led action to protest the pervasive oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

"A lot of those who took my cards decided they wanted to participate, too," said Andrea. "The silence kept building throughout the day until just about everyone knew what we were doing. It was very powerful."

Andrea's experience was mirrored in schools across the country, as a record-breaking 5000 middle and high schools participated in the 11th annual Day of Silence on April 18, 2007. Hundreds of thousands of students took a vow of silence, wore special stickers or t-shirts, and passed out speaking cards to explain their decision not to speak.

"Every day at school, I notice the same thing that everyone notices - students saying,'that's so gay' and stuff like that," said Ashley Pippin, a 17-year-old from Sanderson High School in Raleigh, NC. "Whenever I hear it, I wish I would say something to protest. But it's hard to keep repeating 'don't say that' every time someone makes an offensive comment. Day of Silence is the one day I can make a difference."

Day of Silence was created by University of Virginia students in 1996 and became a national event a year later. GLSEN became the event's national sponsor in 2001. It is the largest student-led social action in the world, and a powerful vehicle for making anti-LGBT bullying and harassment increasingly unacceptable in America's schools. The next Day of Silence is April 25, 2008, and will be dedicated to the memory of Lawrence King.