Day of Silence
Encyclopedia
The Day of Silence is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
's (GLSEN) annual day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of lesbian
, gay
, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT
) students and their supporters. Students take a day-long vow of silence
to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBT students and their supporters.
The Day of Silence has been held each year in April since 1996. The 2012 Day of Silence is April 20. The 2010 Day of Silence was held on April 16; in 2011 it was on April 15.
project by the GLSEN.
Students are encouraged to obtain permission from their school before organizing the event.
GLSEN states that hundreds of thousands of students at more than 8,000 schools participated in the 2008 Day of Silence.
During their period of silence, participating students may hand out printed cards explaining the nature of their protest. This may be supplemented by additional texts or images.
Some school organizers also create or purchase 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.
, others decide to make their message more encompassing. The Gay-Straight Alliance
of Baldwinsville Central School
in Baldwinsville, New York
and Winston Churchill High School
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.
in 1996. Pulzetti explained: "I wanted to do something for BGLAD week that would impact many people at the school and that would be very visible...I knew that if we held panel discussions and events like that, the only people who would come would be the people who already were fairly aware."
In 2000 Gilliam, Chloe Palenchar, and 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."
In 2008, the Day of Silence was held in memory of Lawrence King
, an eighth grader from E.O. Green Middle School who was shot by fellow classmate Brandon McInerney.
began sponsoring a yearly counter-protest called the Day of Truth
. "Events like these actually end up promoting homosexuality in public schools, and that actually creates a hostile climate for students of faith," said Candi Cushman, an education analyst for Focus on the Family
. It encourages students to share with classmates their message, that neither side should be silenced. A card carried by participants in the Day of Truth reads, "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 if you want to. Let's talk."
Other organizations, including the American Family Association
, Concerned Women for America
, Mission America
, Traditional Values Coalition
, Americans for Truth, and Liberty Counsel
, opposed the Day of Silence in 2008 by forming a coalition urging parents to keep their kids home on the DOS if students at their school were observing it. The Rev. Ken Hutcherson
, the principal supporter of those who skipped school, said, "We want education, not indoctrination."
In 2009, Judith Reisman decried the Day of Silence as a direct assault "on traditional parental, American values" and directly compared youth involvement in GLSEN with the Hitler Youth
, to which GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard commented, "We can only hope this is some sort of sick April Fool's joke."
On October 6, 2010, CNN
and Ex-Gay Watch reported that Exodus International
would not support the 2011 annual Day of Truth as the organization had done in 2010. President Alan Chambers stated, "All the recent attention to bullying helped us realize that we need to equip kids to live out biblical tolerance and grace while treating their neighbors as they'd like to be treated, whether they agree with them or not."
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network is an organization in the United States that seeks to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in K-12 schools. GLSEN is headquartered in New York City and the District of Columbia...
's (GLSEN) annual day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) students and their supporters. Students take a day-long vow of silence
Vow of silence
A vow of silence is a religious vow, usually taken in a monastic context, to maintain silence. Known as Mauna in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, the practice is integral to Christian and Islamic traditions as well...
to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBT students and their supporters.
The Day of Silence has been held each year in April since 1996. The 2012 Day of Silence is April 20. The 2010 Day of Silence was held on April 16; in 2011 it was on April 15.
Organization
The Day of Silence is organized as a grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
project by the GLSEN.
Students are encouraged to obtain permission from their school before organizing the event.
GLSEN states that hundreds of thousands of students at more than 8,000 schools participated in the 2008 Day of Silence.
Event format
The event takes place at college, high school, and middle school campuses. In some cases there are elementary school participants. 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.During their period of silence, participating students may hand out printed cards explaining the nature of their protest. This may be supplemented by additional texts or images.
Some school organizers also create or purchase 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.
Message
The national focus of the Day of Silence is specific to ending bullying and harassment of students, particularly physical violence and verbal threats. 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 discriminationInstitutionalized discrimination
Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unfair, indirect treatment of an individual embedded in the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of large organizations such as the governments and corporations, financial institutions , public institutions , and other larger...
, others decide to make their message more encompassing. The Gay-Straight Alliance
Gay-straight alliance
Gay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,...
of Baldwinsville Central School
Baldwinsville Central School District
Baldwinsville Central School District is a public school district which serves the community of Baldwinsville, New York. It consists of 6,036 students in eight schools in this grade span .-Elementary :*Elden Elementary School*Van Buren Elementary School*McNamara...
in Baldwinsville, New York
Baldwinsville, New York
Baldwinsville is a village in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 7,053 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Syracuse Metropolitan Statistical Area....
and Winston Churchill High School
Winston Churchill High School (Montgomery County, Maryland)
Winston Churchill High School, often referred to as WCHS or Churchill, is a high school in Potomac, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County, Maryland....
of Potomac, Maryland
Potomac, Maryland
Potomac is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, named for the nearby Potomac River. The population was 44,822 at the 2000 census. The Potomac area is known for its very affluent and highly-educated residents. In 2009 CNNMoney.com listed Potomac as the fourth...
, 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 VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1996. Pulzetti explained: "I wanted to do something for BGLAD week that would impact many people at the school and that would be very visible...I knew that if we held panel discussions and events like that, the only people who would come would be the people who already were fairly aware."
In 2000 Gilliam, Chloe Palenchar, and 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."
In 2008, the Day of Silence was held in memory of Lawrence King
E.O. Green School shooting
The E.O. Green School shooting was the February 12, 2008, killing of Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King who was a 15-year-old gay student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, United States...
, an eighth grader from E.O. Green Middle School who was shot by fellow classmate Brandon McInerney.
Opposition
In 2005, the Alliance Defense FundAlliance Defense Fund
The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright , the late Larry Burkett , James Dobson The...
began sponsoring a yearly counter-protest called the Day of Truth
Day of Dialogue
The Day of Dialogue is a student-led event which is organized by Focus on the Family which takes place April 16. The goal of the event is "encouraging honest and respectful conversation among students about God's design for sexuality." It was previously known as the Day of Truth and was founded by...
. "Events like these actually end up promoting homosexuality in public schools, and that actually creates a hostile climate for students of faith," said Candi Cushman, an education analyst for Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
. It encourages students to share with classmates their message, that neither side should be silenced. A card carried by participants in the Day of Truth reads, "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 if you want to. Let's talk."
Other organizations, including the American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
, Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion...
, Mission America
Mission America (Columbus, Ohio)
Mission America, based in Columbus, Ohio, USA, is a Christian public policy and commentary organization founded by Linda Harvey.-Background:...
, Traditional Values Coalition
Traditional Values Coalition
The Traditional Values Coalition is a conservative Christian organization that represents, by its estimate, over 43,000 Christian churches throughout the United States of America...
, Americans for Truth, and Liberty Counsel
Liberty Counsel
Liberty Counsel is a non-profit public interest law firm and ministry that provides free legal assistance in defense of "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family." Liberty Counsel is headed by attorney Mathew D. Staver, who founded the legal ministry with...
, opposed the Day of Silence in 2008 by forming a coalition urging parents to keep their kids home on the DOS if students at their school were observing it. The Rev. Ken Hutcherson
Ken Hutcherson
Kenneth Lee Hutcherson is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League who is now the pastor of the Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington, where he has been since 1985...
, the principal supporter of those who skipped school, said, "We want education, not indoctrination."
In 2009, Judith Reisman decried the Day of Silence as a direct assault "on traditional parental, American values" and directly compared youth involvement in GLSEN with the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
, to which GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard commented, "We can only hope this is some sort of sick April Fool's joke."
On October 6, 2010, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and Ex-Gay Watch reported that Exodus International
Exodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
would not support the 2011 annual Day of Truth as the organization had done in 2010. President Alan Chambers stated, "All the recent attention to bullying helped us realize that we need to equip kids to live out biblical tolerance and grace while treating their neighbors as they'd like to be treated, whether they agree with them or not."