The National Day of Silence-2005

[TromDeGrey]

I didn't see anything in the list of threads specifically about this very important day, so I decided to start one. To begin, here's a link:



The National Day of Silence



Briefly for the uninitiated: The Day of Silence is a student led social action to protest the harrassment (silencing) of GLBT students. Students participating in the action choose not to speak during the day to show thier support for their GLBT classmates.



If you are a student (K-12 or university) I encourage you to register and participate! You'll find my practice (Inner Balance Massage Therapy) on the web site's official endorser list and I have contacted the local PFLAG chapter as well as local spiritualist churches and other businesses in my building to try and raise awareness of the event. We're also trying to get the local paper to come visit us for a local interest article and photograph our display. If you own your own business or believe you can convince the powers that be where you work to endorse this, I highly encourage it and applaud you!



While I want to raise awareness of this event, I started this thread primarily as a place for Kittens to talk about their experiences before, during and directly after the National Day of Silence. Have you received resistance? Harrassment? Support where you least expected it? What's happening in your community?



Good luck to all who are participating!!!

Trom's Brain: Rubbing the World the Wrong Way

[urnofosiris]

We´ve had threads about this in the previous years, but it certainly deserves a fresh one. Good luck to everyone involved.

[Tempest Duer]

I plan to participate via the whole not talking thing. I don't know how long I'll last, but I'm going to write "silence = death" on masking tape and wear it over my mouth all day.

I got bitten by a drunk lesbian! Does that mean I'll turn into one?



~my friend Mary

[TromDeGrey]

Well, we have our display up now (I'll get a pick up in the next few days hopefully.) outside the office. We ran off copies of the Who, What and Why of the event and several people have stopped and looked and taken copies. I've also been contacted by the little local paper for info. They're going over to one of the high schools participating to cover it. It's a pretty big deal since this is the first time a school from this county has ever been involved. The larger area paper (The Dayton Daily News) called and emailed me yesterday. I did an interview over the phone and hopefully will be able to provide a link when it's published on the 7th. We haven't had any negative reactions so far, so it's been great.



Is anyone else participating? I know we have a lot of students on the board. What's everyone else up to?

Trom's Brain: Rubbing the World the Wrong Way

[Marguerite de France]

oh Im doing it!! the not talking part and also I will be a sandwich woman wearing a poster on me explaining the day of silence!! I cant wait for it, its also a whole school coming out for me!! I think that's a great event, well that's it! bye

Mari

[munchkin flavoured jellyb]

O alot of ppl in my school are doing it...the gsa..some other clubs too. We made these signs to wear and duct tape...were gonna try to get more ppl to do it....well bless all those who are doing it!



-heather

[angel of salvation]

I haven't really heard much about it but it sounds like a really good idea. I give everyone involved in it all my support and I wud do it with ya if I cud Good luck to you guys and gals!

I think the idea of 'silence=death' on masking tape sounds really cool and powerful! Go you Tempest Duer!



Jess xxx

'You're my angel of salvation, and hope, and strength...your my multi-angel'-Jay (My baby)

"Denial, Party of one, You're table's ready"-Spud

]|My Anime Site|[

Edited by: angel of salvation at: 4/2/05 4:39 am

[WebWarlock]

Figures. Some group of assholes have their own spin on this.



www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7477978/



Click to read, I don't want to post their points of view here.



Remember the Day of Silence is tomorrow.



Warlock

Web Warlock, web.warlock@comcast.net, The Other Side.

Liber Mysterium: The D20 Netbook of Witches & The Dragon and the Phoenix: New Adventures of Willow and Tara

"Thats some powerful goodness." - Frozone, Mr. Incredible and Pals

[numbered words]

at my school you have to go to a room in the morning and sign up on a list. you get a sticker to put on you saying that you are a participant and you're given cards explaining the day of silence to hand out to people who ask why you're doing what you're doing. you can also buy and wear a rainbow ribbon for 25 cents. a lot of people in my school participate. I participated freshman and sophomore years.



I'm not participating this year. It is going to be my last day with my friends at school before I leave for texas for a little over a week. I want to be able to talk to them.



-Kristyn

[Marguerite de France]

oh I did it I did it and it was pretty fun!! people were interested and curious, most of the people that I "talked" to about the day of silence found it incredibly cool. Im very happy I did that! I didnt talk except maybe 5-10 words in the all day I think you don't realise how hard it is not to talk! hehe well it was coo! and how about you people? how was it??

byebye

Mari

[TromDeGrey]

Things were pretty quiet here. I am, however, royally pissed at the Dayton Daily News. The reporter sent me a copy of his article, which was very nice and talked about the day at a national level as well as what was being done by students locally. There were also a few quotes in there from our interview. I had expected it would run in yesterday's paper. Low and behold, not only did they not run it on the National Day of Silence they instead chose to run the AP story about the hate organization that WebWarlock links an article to above. I'm waiting to see if anything is run in today's paper before I write a letter ripping several strips off the editor. I am appaled that they would run an AP story about hate rather than run a local story about some very courageous student. I'll keep you posted on the day's events.



I also did a phone interview with the little local paper and will check to see if it's in today's paper as well. She was going to try to interveiw the principal and any students involved, so I didn't expect to see anything yesterday.



Overall, our display was well-received and a lot of people took information and asked questions. Despite the failures of the DDN, I think it went very well locally.

Trom's Brain: Rubbing the World the Wrong Way

[angel of salvation]

it makes me so arngry to hear that pepers would rather show of the hate then the courage of people taking part in an event like that. I'm all for you to write a shitty letter if they run it on... gah assholes.

this kinda stuff puts me in 'what the fuck is wrong with people in the world?!' mode and i snap at people who say anything to make it worse. Damn them all

Be happy, be free, Be yourself...the most beautiful person you can be.



Jess xxx

'You're my angel of salvation, and hope, and strength...your my multi-angel'-Jay (My baby)

"Denial, Party of one, You're table's ready"-Spud

]|My Anime Site|[

[TromDeGrey]

Indeed, neither local paper ran a story. I didn't really expect it from the little town paper though. Their reporter didn't call me until this past Monday. Procrastinate much? The Dayton Daily News ran nothing on the event and even the freelance writer that interviewed me emailed to vent. He was very pissed off and apologized for the lack of coverage. Not his fault, of course. As such, the editors will be receiving this from yours truly:

Quote:

---

Shameful. It is the only word I can use to describe the choices made by Dayton Daily News editors. Wednesday April 13th was the National Day of Silence, a day of student-led action decrying the bullying and harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered classmates. Local students from Centerville High School, Kettering Fairmont High School, Piqua High School, Sidney High School, the University of Dayton and others participated in this event by not speaking throughout their respective school days. Did the Dayton Daily News choose to cover this positive social activism by our local youth? No. Instead, on April 13th, the Dayton Daily News ran a story at the top of A4 about a group conducting a response to the National Day of Silence. A so-called Day of Truth, it was little more than anti-gay bigotry disguised as religious belief.



It is cowardice on the part of the Dayton Daily News – plain and simple. That the Dayton Daily News would cave to such conservatism is both disheartening and disgusting. The students participating locally and nationwide showed far greater courage in exposing themselves to the same bullying and harassment that their classmates endure each and every day than Dayton Daily News editors did by choosing to ignore a local story about bravery and instead run an AP story about hate.



I pray that we will learn from our children. Bullying and intolerance lead to tragedies like Columbine and Red Lake, and to the horrific torture and death of young men like Mathew Shepard. If we will not teach our children tolerance, perhaps they will teach it to one another. And if we, as adults, cannot celebrate their bravery over social issues but only laud them in times of war, then it is my fervent hope these students will only grow stronger in their convictions for it.



The students at Centerville High School, Kettering Fairmont High School, Piqua High School, Sidney High School, the University of Dayton and around the country should be applauded. These children have no agendas – unlike so many other political and religious activists. They are simply courageous enough to stand up and say that everyone, despite their superficial differences has the right to feel safe in school. If not in school, then where? Dayton Daily News’ silence on the event is indicative of what GLBT students endure everyday. They do not feel safe in school and the Dayton Daily News has solidified the message to them that, indeed, they should not – do not deserve to feel safe in school. Shameful.

---

On a high note, my old high school participated for the first time this year. Brought a tear to my eye.







After I saw that my old high school had participated this year, I emailed the superintendent, assistant superintendent and the high school principal to applaud and congratulate them on thier students. I received this from the principal this morning:

Quote:

---

Great to hear from you. You'll also be happy (and proud) to know that 3 years ago we started a Diversity Council. Our mission is to increase student awareness of the importance of tolerance in today's global climate. I had the students you described in your email in mind when we began to organize. I've sent students to several workshops and

they always point out to me when they return that our council is heads above other schools that have had them for years. We have a large membership and host several events a year that include the entire student body. On April 27th (weather permitting) we are hosting a Peace Day. So....thank you for recognizing our efforts and I am happy to see you are doing so well, you are something we can be proud of!



Eileen M.Booher

Coordinating Principal

Centerville High School

---

Can I just say WOW!! When I was there, diversity meant how many different places did you shop? That place has come a long way.

Trom's Brain: Rubbing the World the Wrong Way

Edited by: Warduke at: 4/15/05 8:07 am

[AmbersSecretAdmirer]

Well done to all those who took part in the Day of Silence. I hope that the continued adherence to this annual event will eventually get through to those in power the need for better legislation for the LGBT community in the USA.



As for the Day of Truth, sod them I say. If they are so weak-minded and petty that they seek to destroy all the good that the Day of Silence sets out to do, then I say that they are th ones who are destructive.



As for the newspaper, I hope they hang their heads in shame for only printing one side of the argument. Whilst I accept the argument that they should print both (after all, it is a democracy) they should have printed both articles and I agree that it was cowardice that a report on the Day of Silence was ignored.

Tara & Willow Together Forever!!! Blessed Be Eternally!!!

[blackeyedwillow]

day of silence was pretty successful this year at my school. a bunch of my friends and i did it, and it was nice to see that there was no negative response to our choice of silence. they pretty much got the message. it was also odd trying to communicate without words (communicating on random scraps of paper is interesting)

Edited by: blackeyedwillow at: 4/15/05 9:26 pm

[munchkin flavoured jellyb]

yea...we did it here in alaska too...all in all it went good, but the day after like half as many ppl wore those "day of truth" signs. On the day of silence, during my fourth time block, i handed this guy a paper saying why i was not talking (cuz he asked) He read it and ripped it up and threw it away. Then looked us all straight in the eyes and said "you sick-os need to read your effing bibles!" Needless to say i was pissed...but other than that the day went well.



Did something like this happen to anyone else? just a question. i hope not....hmm...well tootles



-Heather

[Trom DeGrey]

I got the shock of a lifetime this afternoon. I opened my Sunday edition of the Dayton Daily News to find that my letter, my you-suck-you-conservative-bastards letter was not only run on the Editorials page, it was run as their Letter of the Week!! It got a large headline and everything. It was edited slightly, but not so much that it changed the overall tone of the letter. To be honest, I'm still a little speechless over it. I never thought they'd have the guts to run it. I'm guessing they think it makes up for them not running a local story about the Day of Silence though. Hmmph!! I don't think so!

[MellindraX]

I helped plan the day with my GSA all year and was excited about participating. I even bought duct tape, to deal with the fact that I can't shut up.

So? Of course I woke up with a fever of 102. My bitterness knows no bounds. Le sigh.