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Day of Silence

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

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. The 2007 Day of Silence was on April 18.

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, though it is not required.

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 2007 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?

This may be supplemented by additional texts or images. Some school organizers also create pins or stickers to put on lockers and t-shirts. Others dress in all black, with rainbow ribbons or gags to emphasize the cause and their presence. Also if allowed, 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 LGBT 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, then GLSEN National Student Organizer Chris Tuttle, developed the proposal for the day to become an official project of GLSEN. GLSEN developed its 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].

See also

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