Brent Hartinger of Voices In My Head and The Big Gay Picture, sent in a reminder that this Wednesday is the national Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the United States Student Association.
This event is a day-long vow of silence taken by students who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools and to recognize and protest discrimination and harassment. Brent:
I knew of no openly gay teachers or administrators. But even then, the teenagers I worked with yearned to be open and honest about who they were. Heterosexuals often ask me why gay teenagers would want to talk about their sexuality in the first place. “Their wanting to talk about sex is just another form of rebellion, right?�
But being openly gay doesn’t mean rebellion, and it isn’t talking about sex. It just means no longer maintaining the elaborate ruse of pretending to be straight.
I always ask heterosexuals to imagine their teen years if they had had to hide the fact that they were straight. That means no talking about which pop star you thought was cute and definitely no idealized night at the prom. You might have had to date someone you’re not emotionally attracted to, even becoming sexuality active in order to keep your lie intact.
In other words, being a closeted gay or lesbian teenager means being silent. And for someone who is itching to forge a self-identity, as all teenagers are, this is a very frustrating way to live.
In 1996, some gay and straight students at the University of Virginia created the Day of Silence, going a whole school day without speaking to protest the silence of most gay students and teachers and the fact that most school curriculums ignored the contributions of gays and lesbians in history and literature.
Since then, the protest has mushroomed. This year, on Wednesday, an estimated 500,000 gay and straight students from at least 4,000 schools, some in the Tacoma area, will participate what is now called the National Day of Silence. In the history of the civil rights movement, there have been few protests this dignified and this exactly appropriate.
Sounds great, right? It’s so great that the Day of Silence ruffled the feathers of the wingers — the Alliance Defense Fund is putting on its The Day of Truth event, scheduled for the next day, April 27th.
The Day of Truth was established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.
In the past, students who have attempted to speak against the promotion of the homosexual agenda have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their beliefs. It is important that students stand up for their First Amendment right to hear and speak the Truth about human sexuality in order to protect that freedom for future generations. The Day of Truth provides an opportunity to publicly exercise our free speech rights.
Participating students are encouraged to wear T-shirts and pass out cards (not during class time) with the following message:
I am speaking the Truth to break the silence.
Silence isn’t freedom. It’s a constraint.
Truth tolerates open discussion, because the Truth emerges when healthy discourse is allowed.
By proclaiming the Truth in love, hurts will be halted, hearts will be healed, and lives will be saved.
Meanwhile, take a look at the latest Christofascist flap here in NC over Easter candy with religious messages being passed out in a school….
Ban of Easter candy with religious messages in school unhinges mom
The bleating from these faux-Christians about being “victimized” never stops.
The mother of a North Carolina second-grader is threatening to sue a public elementary school for prohibiting the boy from passing out Easter candy displaying religious messages.
Natalya Hill alleges her son Robert was barred from handing out Easter candy with an attached religious message to his classmates at Leesville Elementary School in Raleigh. Hills’ attorney, Delia Van Loenen with the Alliance Defense Fund, has penned and sent a letter to the school demanding that it end its “censorship of student religious expression.”
According to Van Loenen, the youngster was told he could not distribute the candy during class time, at lunch, or even during recess. The attorney says that violates the U.S. Constitution.
“The school needs to know that the students have a right to religious expression — that’s protected under the First Amendment,” Van Loenen says. ” And basically the school has treated this student’s religious speech as second-class speech, and it’s a blatant violation of his constitutional rights.”
Note this is the same Alliance Defense Fund, which is also sponsoring the Day of Truth mentioned above. If her knickers are in such a twist, why is this child in public school? There are plenty of religious schools out there where her son is free to proselytize all day long to his peers.
32 Responses to “Wednesday is the national Day of Silence”
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Funny how these wingnuts who hate activist judges and think the judicial system has us on a highway to hell, still file a lawsuit at the drop of a jellybean.
The “Truth” Day on the Day of Silence is very nasty in a passive-aggressive way. It’s obvious someone came up with this on the basis of: “And if Teh Gays try to argue with us, they have to break their silence, Ha-HAH!”
What if some wingnut teacher decides to have an oral pop quiz on Wednesday?
The fact is that the Day of Silence is a exactly that– a silent protest. It’s not about arguing or “promoting homosexuality,” but it does reflect what it feels like to be a young LGBTQ person.
However, their so-called Day of Truth? It truly suits them– it’s a day committed to saying ugly, judgemental things with a holier-than-thou, God-is-on-my-side attitude. What douchebags.
Speaking from personal experience, my teenage years were certainly the hardest years of my life. People sensed that I was different, I didn’t have to open my mouth. So I embraced being different, became as big a weirdo as I could. But underneath it all I was angry, frustrated and ultimately feared that this is the way it would always be, that people really hated anyone who was different. Thank goodness I was wrong. Thank goodness it is so much better for so many LGBTQ teens today.
I’ve got to say: why wasn’t the boy allowed to pass out the candy during Recess? I was pretty sure you’re allowed to talk about religion during free time.
Today, incidentally, is Yom HaShoah–Holocaust Rembrance Day. Discrimination, hatred and intolerance should be fought in all its forms, anywhere it’s found. I’m glad there’s a national Day of Silence tomorrow!
If I remember my ACLU cases correctly, they defended a kid on similar grounds not too long ago, and won. The kid does have the right to pass out the candy with a religious message attached (candy cane precedent), but if the school doesn’t allow candy, he’d be up shit’s creek without a basket.
Thanks for explaining the “day of silence” concept. I had heard of this protest, but didn’t know the context. It makes much more sense now.
While the lawyer is wrong that school children have absolute first amendment rights, I am curious as to why he wasn’t allowed to distribute his candy during lunch or recess. I thought it was just that the school as an institution couldn’t embrace any particular religion, but that individual students are still free to practice and worship and, so long as it’s not offensive or harassing, even prosletyse?
whenever someone mentions the gay agenda too me, i laugh my fucking ass off. right in their stupid faces.
I participated in the Day of Silence at my high school last year, in a small town full of racist, sexist, homophobic douchebags. Even our school tried to hamper the effort, requiring permission slips to be silent, (although I didn’t sign them and was silent anyway and didn’t get in trouble, so it was clearly bull.) We had an “after-party” and we all put the number of times we had been harassed. I was the only one who had not been harassed at all, (probably because I had all AP classes with mostly liberal kids who’d been in my classes for years). It seemed like especially the boys were singled out to be harassed, some of them had received forty-some comments or other instances of harassment.
I think prosletyzing is out of bounds, especially when its explicitly planned by the parent as is clearly the case here. Apart from the religious aspects, it is disruptive and can lead to division, which is not something we need more of in schools.
The candy thing is kind of disturbing on one level, but then it’s also very possible–and probably more likely–that the kid wasn’t handing out little chocolate bunnies that said “Happy Easter” but candies that said “Jebus died for your sins, you filthy heathen. Accept him or burn in hell for all eternity.”
Or something to that effect. And considering the quickness of the lawsuiting, it was probably all planned way in advance.
“Jebus died for your sins, you filthy heathen. Accept him or burn in hell for all eternity.�
mmmmmmmmmmm…… sacrilicious!
While I do think the kid should have been allowed to pass out the candy, I also see the inherent hypocrisy - can’t stand the activist judges or trial lawyers, but we’ll sue in a heart beat. Students have free speech, but they shouldn’t be allowed to be silent.
And just wait for the recurring stink in October when someone tries to hand out Halloween candy during their “Fall Festival”.
Nothing says “I believe!” like a sugary treat!
aimai
And considering the quickness of the lawsuiting, it was probably all planned way in advance.
And the parent set their seven or eight year-old child up for disappointment, being singled out, and possibily even a detention to boot.
That’s what galls me. Who the fuck sends their child to school with something to deliberately provoke teachers and principals into causing a rukus?
Don’t be surprised or mad at your child when he refuses to change your adult diapers in your sunset years, you freaks.
I’d like to sue that kid’s mother for allowing him to hand out candy at school in the first place, never mind the message.
The way I see it, if your religion requires being imposed on everyone in order to survive, then it deserves to die. “God is all powerful, but if everybody doesn’t clap their hands hard enough he’ll disappear!”
This is all part of the wingnut modus operandi.
Provoke a conflict - no matter what happens you get some sort of win. Either fodder about “christian persecution” for the troops or a court ruling saying you can push your religion if you use your kids and candy to do it.
Same thing for the day of truth crapfest - they want a lawsuit. They can cry and bitch and moan and carry on about how poor Christian teens are being persecuted by secular and homosexualized school system. If some poor principal somewhere tries to prevent the “christian” teens from disrupting the day’s education, they’ll scream and cry and carryon about how the homosexuals are getting special treatment for their day of silence. If they let the event go on, the Christians do their little superiority dance. If there is a lawsuit - it’s double extra fresh - fodder for the troops to keep them fighting against persecution.
There’s a level of crazy involved here the defies comprehension by those of us not afflicted. Conservatives tell themselves they’re a persecuted minority and everything becomes grist for the mill - a Wiccan offers a prayer at a city council meeting and it’s proof that the forces of Satan are on the march, some wingnut delivers a fire and brimstone all you fags are going to hell prayer at the same city council and when people suggest that it is not appropriate for a body supposed to represent all citizens to encourage such speech and the wingnuts cry about being persecuted and silenced. Every win is seen as an aberration. Every loss becomes the motivation to provoke more fights.
There’s no end point for conservatives. Most gays and lesbians would say, “Look if we get legal marriage and nondiscrimination laws protecting us, we’ll fight the battles for social change outside of the courts.” For conservatives, even total dominance of political, cultural and economic wouldn’t be enough because someone somewhere would always disagree with them and in the end that’s what drives ‘em crazy - that someone disagrees with them. It’s not about pluralism - it’s about being right and proving they’re right and forcing everyone else to agree. There’s no end point in this fight.
“Silence isn’t freedom. It’s a constraint.”
They don’t seem to understand that the meaning behind the Day of Silence is not to celebrate the silence in which the students or their classmates feel they must live, but to protest it.
“If her knickers are in such a twist, why is this child in public school? There are plenty of religious schools out there where her son is free to proselytize all day long to his peers.”
Oh, I get it. Religious kids are not welcome in public schools…or probably in public at all.
Gee, I guess I better go back and read the First Amendment…
Oh, here it is…it says (in part), “People that object to relgious speech will always be protected from hearing anything about religion, especially in public.”
No it doesn’t silly. What part of, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech” is so hard to understand? Wait, I’m ignorant, that’s right…a kid passing out candy with relgious messages to celebrate a religious holiday deeeeeeeeeeeefinitely qualifies as the US Congress making a law that forces all to bow to the Easter candy. Yeah, I guess if a parent doesn’t like her child’s First Amendment RIGHTS violated should just pack up and homeschool because public schools are segregated once again! Christians and dogs need not attend.
I wonder if you REALLY believe what you say.
Which is kind of beautiful, really. Hey, for once I’m in total agreememt with the Religious Right! Who knew! Thanks, d00ds.
anyway, glendenb has it: they want a fight so they can play the martyr, all the while projecting their own persecution complex onto the people they’re actually persecuting.
In my darker moments, sometimes it occurs to me that the reason the Matthew Shepard case actually managed to capture the attention of some of the smug suety bastards in a way nothing else had, besides the fact that it was horrific enough to prick their vestigial consciences: what with the kid getting essentially crucified, they were miffed that he was *stealing their act.* Kind of ironic, getting all worked up righteous about the hideous death of your Savior (god, how annoying is it when people focus on THAT aspect rather than what he actually, you know, said; but that’s a whole ‘nother rant) when some poor bastard just got similar treatment *in the name of the bigotries you’ve been enabling.* And gee, this one’s not coming back. either. Not a divinity; just some poor suffering bastard. Love lies bleeding; and what does it all *mean*, dear? Just wring your freshly-washed hands and mumble more soothing platitudes about hating the sin while loving the sinner, and how while homosexuality is a sin, horrific torture and murder are bad, TOO, and We Do Not Endorse This. Uh huh.
slip; first paragraph was speaking to Grimmstail
Oh for fuck’s sake, Nunca. It’s a school; it may well be within his First Amendment rights (if you’ll notice, some people here are actually arguing that very point), but since when have kids been considered fully-endowed-with-their-rights people? If the school can send you home for wearing an “offensive” T-shirt, they can ban the sugary proselytization. If they can’t, well, that’s another story.
Personally I think the best response would be to come back with Ostara candy celebrating the rites of the Goddess, but that’s just me.
bd222–
I was not addressing anything any other contributor to this discussion wrote, I was speaking directly to “Pam,” whose most ridiculous, Constitutionally-ignorant statement I pasted and challenged.
Schools may, within a specific framework (refer to Tinker, not the recent Harper decision, which will be put on a roll in the outhouse post haste), restrict expression at school. However, the rules must apply across the board and religious expression may not be singled out for targeted hostility or banning by a state entity. That is what makes the Easter candy situation so clearly unconstitutional.
I read this blog and Pam’s own blog a couple time a week and I KNOW that many people here would gladly forget about that troublesome First Amendment’s application to religious expression if given a choice or a chance. I have many examples on which I base my conclusions, this is just the latest and one of the more distasteful.
Yeeeeess, Nunja, and we all feel it’s a perfectly fine thing to train small children to think that if they don’t obey patriarchal authority unquestioningly they will be sent to a place of eternal punishment after they die, and that they must persuade other children of this fact. A child that young hasn’t yet developed the mental capacity to distinguish between observable truth and fairy tales like Jeebus. We’re not castigating the child for broaching the rules because the child is too young to know better. We’re criticizing the child’s parents because they are *abusive and idiotic and batshit crazy* and shouldn’t have been allowed to reproduce because they themselves are unable to distinguish between observable reality and fairy tales like the Big Sky God.
Personally I think the best response would be to come back with Ostara candy celebrating the rites of the Goddess, but that’s just me.
I’m with you. Especially since May Eve is this weekend. Happy Beltane, kids, get out there and have a bit of SEX on behalf of mid-spring! bwahaha…
i personally participated in the Day of Silence. it was a hard school day and i even slipped up a few times.
But not having a voice gives you time to think about things. and it’s not a contraint in the real meaning. though it did bug the crap out of me to not be able to talk. and then having people not talk, feeling that somehow it was the correct “response”.
thus, i respect the Christian movement as well, there is a freedom to speak, or rather not speak, showing your idea multiple ways.
but the Day of Truth sounds like the coming of the apolocalypse.
Personally I think the best response would be to come back with Ostara candy celebrating the rites of the Goddess, but that’s just me.
Me, too! Except it would be secular candy, with every one poiting out another of the fallacies of christianity.
I wonder how tolerant these people would be if someone was to traipse around their neighborhood passing out that sort of thing, or tracts titled “The Bible is a fairy tale”?
eventho i havent participated in THE DAY OF SILENCE cuz i didnt kno about it or even thought there was this kind of of program. i totally agree with this students to remain quiet cuz thats how we feel ppl who are bis,lesbians.gays,etc thats the way i feel everyday i happen to be bisexual and it burns me up inside not tellin my friends who i really am. i havent talked to my parents about it. except i told my best friend who i can trust. it burns and it really hurts when u cant tell ppl that ur bi or lesbian and u feel like a liar not tellin them who u are and pretendin to be someone ur not. i have to go through it everyday of my life being quiet and not tellin other ppl to avoid humiliation, im very frightened. i hope ya’ll can understand about ppl like me what we have to go through everyday. and for those who support it, im happy and appreciate it that u guys are into this kind of stuff and understand this.
thank u very much,
annonymous
so yesterday was the first ive ever heard about the National Day of Silence. i thought i was awesome. i live in a town full of racist and judgemental people. out of a school of 3000+ students i was one of 35 students who participated. i was laughed at and called names by people for being gay… i just kinda laughed it off because im not. but i didnt care. i would have to feel that way everyday of my life like some people have to. so i am in full support of it and everyone who is gay, bi, lesbian, transgenderd. i love everyone for who they are and i just wish society would to. love yall…
ashley
[…] From Pandagon This event is a day-long vow of silence taken by students who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools and to recognize and protest discrimination and harassment. […]
Hey if you plan any further coverage of the anti-gay “Day of Truth” this year I wanted to bring your attention to a Youtube video I made examining some of the more troubling aspects of the Day of Truth — Specifically how the DOT is little more than a thinly veiled attempt to promote “pray away the gay” programs to queer youth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4-eDG3Bb0
This video covers the little discussed founding of the DOT by Tyler Chase Harper, a high-schooler who told his gay classmates they should be ashamed and are condemned by God. The video also reveals a great deal of troubling material on the DOT’s website including information discussing anal sex, bathhouses and a fake medical condition made up by the anti-gay right called “gay bowel syndrome.” Some of this material is furnished by Mission America, an organization that actually includes in it’s mission statement the need to defend the nation against witchcraft.
-Dan Gonzales
(I myself am a survivor of one of the “ex-gay” programs promoted by the Day of Truth)