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The Day of Silence is an annual student-organized day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, and their straight allies. Students take a day-long vow of silence to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBT students and their rights.

The Day of Silence is held each year on a Wednesday in April. The specific date changes each year. The 2006 Day of Silence was on April 26th. The 2007 Day of Silence will be on April 18th.

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.

GLSEN estimated that over 450,000 students at 4,000 schools participated in the 2006 Day of Silence.

Events

The event takes place at both college and high school level campuses where it is an organized effort. In some cases, there are middle school participants, and in very rare cases, elementary school students. 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 (Wayne County, Michigan) in Livonia, Michigan and Winston Churchill High School (Montgomery County, Maryland) of Potomac, Maryland, 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

Created by then-student Maria Pulzetti, the first event was organized by students at the University of Virginia in 1996.

The following year Pulzetti and then 19-year-old Jessie Gilliam developed the project to be used in schools nationally. It was renamed the National Day of Silence and nearly 100 colleges and universities participated. Beginning in 1998 the day was promoted by the Day of Silence Project with double the participation of the last year and website hosting by Youth Guardian Services [1].

In 2000, Gilliam, Palenchar and then GLSEN National Student Organizer Chris Tuttle, developed the proposal for the day to become an official project of GLSEN. GLSEN developed it's first-ever "student leadership team" as part of the Day of Silence.

In recent years, the Day of Silence has been reported as "the largest one-day student-led grassroots action on LGBT rights in American history" [2].

External links

Day of Silence: Official Website
GLSEN: A project of
United States Students Association: Project Partner

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-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 '''Day of Silence''' is an annual student-organized day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of [[gay]], [[lesbian]], [[bisexual]] and [[transgender]] (LGBT) students, and their straight allies. 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 26]]th.
+The Day of Silence is held each year on a Wednesday in April.  The specific date changes each year.  The 2006 Day of Silence was on [[April 26]]th.  The 2007 Day of Silence will be on [[April 18]]th.
 == 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).
+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, approximately 500,000 students at 4,000 different schools will participate.
+GLSEN estimated that over 450,000 students at 4,000 schools participated in the 2006 Day of Silence.
 == Events ==
-The event takes place at both college and high school level campuses where it is an organized effort. In some cases, there are middle school participants (who either have a brother/sister participating or are LGBT rights activists), and in very rare cases, elementary school students. 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.
+The event takes place at both college and high school level campuses where it is an organized effort. In some cases, there are middle school participants, and in very rare cases, elementary school students. 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.
@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 == History ==
-The first event was organized by students at the [[University of Virginia]] in 1996.
+Created by then-student Maria Pulzetti, 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]] [http://www.youth-guard.org/].
+The following year Pulzetti and then 19-year-old Jessie Gilliam developed the project to be used in schools nationally. It was renamed the '''National Day of Silence''' and nearly 100 colleges and universities participated.  Beginning in 1998 the day was promoted by the '''Day of Silence Project''' with double the participation of the last year and website hosting by [[Youth Guardian Services]] [http://www.youth-guard.org/].
+In [[2000]], Gilliam, Palenchar and then [[GLSEN]] National Student Organizer Chris Tuttle, developed the proposal for the day to become an official project of [[GLSEN]].  [[GLSEN]] developed it's first-ever "student leadership team" as part of the '''Day of Silence'''.
-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" [http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/1920.html].
+In recent years, the Day of Silence has been reported as "the largest one-day student-led grassroots action on [[LGBT rights]] in American history" [http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/1920.html].
@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 ==External links==
 *[http://dayofsilence.org/ Day of Silence]: Official Website
+*[http://www.glsen.org/ GLSEN]: A project of
+*[http://www.usstudents.org/ United States Students Association]: Project Partner
 [[Category:Annual Activist Events|Day of Silence]]