Day of Silence
The F Word has a post about the Day of Silence:
Tomorrow (Friday, 25th April) marks this year’s Day of Silence in America.
The Day of Silence has been held each year in April since 1996 and its purpose is to highlight the bullying and harassment of LGBTQ students, and their supporters.
The organisers GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) say that this year’s event will be held in memory of Lawrence King, a 15 year old California student who was shot and killed in February by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. (See also this post elsewhere at TFW).
The dedication to Lawrence King is made even more poignant in the light of the news earlier this week (see Pam’s House Blend and The Bilerico Project) that the alleged murderer’s attorney is pushing the trans-panic defence - most notably (but not only) used in the trials following the murders of Brandon Teena, Gwen Araujo and Sanesha Stewart, to name but three…
But it should be noted that there are dissenting voices to the Day of Silence, perhaps most notably the Liberty Counsel (curtsey to Pam’s House Blend for the link). Many of the groups who oppose the Day of Silence have formed a loose coalition to protest against the protesters, see this page of the World Net Daily site for the full list.
It’s interesting to note that, according to the Liberty Counsel’s letter, being silent in class may be deemed likely to cause “a substantial disruption or material interference with school activities” and is therefore “not permitted and is not protected under the First Amendment“. Well, okay, so speech isn’t silence - but prohibiting silence seems a curious way to protect the freedom of speech. As ever, when people start talking about freedom, it’s never entirely clear whether they mean ‘freedom from’ or ‘freedom to’.
April 25, 2008 at 6:16 pm
i cant believe this is such an issue for conservatives, what are they afraid of people learning to accept LGBT folks?
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
April 26, 2008 at 6:34 am
Yay! I mean, not yay to the dumb responses, but the Day of Silence is AWESOME.
I organized one at my high school, and it went very well. We had about 50-60 participants, and the responses from people were mostly positive. (One of my friends got called a fag, though, which shows we still have quite a ways to go). We also handed out black ribbons in memory of Lawrence King to all the staff members, and I saw a lot of teachers wearing them. Overall, it went well.
April 27, 2008 at 1:37 am
This makes me sad that such a day is even needed, you know?
Stupid, stupid people.
Also: I quoted you — that quote alone was reason enough to bring back my blog! :)
(http://bastantealready.blogspot.com/2008/04/vote.html)
May 1, 2008 at 3:37 pm
“I cant believe this is such an issue for conservatives, what are they afraid of people learning to accept LGBT folks?”
Because there are so few of us, but few enough for any “behaviour” we have to be scrutinized as abnormal, even in our silence. It was like decades to centuries ago when conservatives tried to “cast out demons” from those mentally handicapped or disabled. The DOS is perhaps the best response to them we can ever give in our time. Silence speaks a thousand words.
May 2, 2008 at 10:24 am
I don’t know if any of you guys have seen this yet, but oh man, it boggles the mind like crazy…
From: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/05/day_of_silence_irony_alert.php
“It turns out that the Day of Silence is not the only protest in which students stay silent for the day to express themselves on an issue. The religious right has their own anti-abortion protest called the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity:
‘On October 21st, people from all over this nation will give up their voices for a day in solidarity for these children. Red arm bands and duct tape will identify them as taking part in the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity. They will carry fliers explaining why they are silent and educate others about the plight of the innocent children we are losing every day.’”
I can’t imagine that the conservatives will be bitching about this protest being “disruptive” or “iterfering” and I’m sure will claim till they’re blue in the face that it is, in fact, protected under the first ammendment.
That noise? That was my irony meter breaking I think…