National Day of Silence

This was my response to the National Day of Silence last year, and I'm reposting for those of you thinking of inviting me. No answer is a no. Disregard the links, I'm not sure if they still work. Thanks for reading.


As many of you know, today, April 25, 2008, was the National Day of Silence. If you support gay/lesbian/bi people you aren't supposed to speak for the whole day. This is the information I recieved from many students at my school, though the Website for the National Day of Silence doesn't suggest this action. On the page with the "5 Things To Do For The Day of Silence" it clearly says that you should plan on having a silent lunch, followed by a discussion about how you have been affected by LGBT, and how others that have made the choice to be homosexual have been silenced by discrimination. This was not a day in which you weren't supposed to talk at all, though it is a good excuse to avoid discussions, or public-speaking, but one of the things that the website even suggests is that you should discuss the people affected by discrimination. This was supposed to be a day about speaking up about LGBT rights, and what's the best way for hundreds of thousands of supporters to be heard? Well, by not speaking at all! Wait...that doesn't make sense. How can not speaking out about what you believe in help? Call me not-understanding, you wouldn't be the first today, but that does not make sense. How can you be noticed if you aren't doing anything. You are supposed to echo the silence of opressed LGBT supporters, and the Gays/Lesbians themselves, but isn't this just being more submissive to the "Greater Power". Was MLK shot because he said nothing at all about an important issue? Saying nothing will not bring about "equality" between sexualities.

Oppression can only survive through silence.
Carmen de Monteflores


This quote is very true. If everyone were silent about things they believe in, they will never change. Opressors don't just wake up and think, "Oh, they're nice and silent, I should really just leave them alone from now on. They aren't harming anyone." These kinds of things just don't happen. Freedom of Speech. The first amendment. Please use it people. In America there is so much oppurtunity to get heard, why waste this freedom on not having anything to say. I strongly disagree with the acts of those that took the vow today. It may be for a good cause, but I don't believe it did very much for it. I believe that to change the world you must scream you're thoughts from the rooftops, protest, hold rallies, not eat a silent lunch. To make a difference, you need to be noticed by more than middle and high schoolers. To make a difference, if you really strongly believe in your cause, you need to go out of your way to be different. A lot of people who "vowed" still whispered to their friends, this is makeng even less of a change. You need to believe to change.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi changed much of the world with speech, not silence. He was the change he wished to see. Are you? If you follow this quote, then the change you wish to see is that LGBT supporters do not speak up, and just take the bashing. That was not what the purpose of silence was, though that could be the outcome.
The Day of Silence did not do much. Neither do "Gay Pride Parades", or the "Gay and Proud" bumper stickers. I understand that people want to be heard and eventually viewed as being the same as everyone else, but the currents acts showed more difference than equality. This is most likely the reason for a double-standard that has popped up for Straights and Gays/Lesbians. Gays/Lesbians can have parades, bumper stickers, days of silence, and be completely proud about who they are. Now lets imagine a Straight Pride Parade. Maybe 100 people walking down a street, yelling out, "I'M STRAIGHT AND I'M PROUD!" This would be seen as a ploy to harass Gays and Lesbians. If you drive around with a "Straight and Proud" sticker on your car, you will be seen as a gay basher. Many things that groups can have, and act in, can not happen with another demographic.
Mixing the two groups doesn't seem to work either. A friend of mine told me about her school's GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance). When she and her friends went to join, they were ignored. It's because they were not gay. The other members went as far as having a secret meeting and not telling the others about it. That is not becoming allies. Actions like that can only cause more turmoil.
Segregation in groups made to bring together Gays and Straights. This is not progression. Silence for a day if you support LGBT is causing more difference between the two factors. Gay Pride Parades are bringing apart the groups even further. The things that are supposed to help the cause are really hurting it. They are showing the differences between people, not the likeness. There are better ways to gain equality. Integration not Segregation.