Day of Silence: teaching thorough silence
My speaking card, which I use today on Day of Silence (DOS) explains that I am participating in the DOS silent protest because my deliberate quietness echoes the forced silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* people and their allies. My card says that ending the silence is the first step towards building LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning/Queer) awareness and making a public commitment to addressing these worldwide injustices.Moreover, I have a personal experience on the Day of Silence. In the past 3 years that I have participated, I always notice that it is more productive to approach the day for myself, rather than trying to change my peers’ mindsets regarding me and my peers’ rights.I woke up the morning of the event, April 20, knowing that not speaking was a way to exercise my ability to absorb as much information as possible from my experience. This day was an opportunity to observe my peers and notice things that I might not normally notice.Throughout the day I felt judged— not because of the cause that I was supporting, but because I was participating in this protest in particular.I believe that the reason for this is that there is a contradictory correlation between silence and change.Latin teacher Luke Henderson believes that, while he completely supports the idea behind DOS, the day itself seems unproductive because every day’s goal should be to bring light a given cause, rather than designating a single day for advocacy and protest. However, when one actually examines those participating in DOS, one would notice that those people are active in their advocacy on a regular basis.Part of my partaking in DOS is that I advocate in a polar opposite form than when I am ‘loud and proud.’ I make myself more approachable and open to other's thoughts and comments.It seems as if the biggest hesitation about participation in DOS is that we, as the LGBTQ community, appear as weak, which is already a stereotype those who support and/or identify as LGBTQ battle every day.I understand that one may not participate because of the fear of fueling a stereotype that gay people are ‘weak.' However, DOS is beyond the silence- it is an opportunity to absorb information, consume it, and learn from it to make change. In my opinion, that is not weak at all. I believe that the all encompassing gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, trans*, lesbian and queer rights is a human rights issue. Therefore, there is no reason a given person cannot find a way to protest on this day. So in the future, I want to see more people participate in whatever personal way they wish instead of criticising our efforts as "ineffective."Molly ChaikinStaff Writer