The
On April 10, teen-age students across the nation participated in
a "Day of Silence" program to raise awareness of the discrimination
and harassment experienced by many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gender
teen-agers in their schools, homes and communities. The program is sponsored by
the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
Teens who participated in the Day of Silence agreed to remain
silent for the entire day. When they were spoken to, they
simplyhanded out a card that explained their reasons for not speaking.
And if a teacher called on them in class, they wrote out their response.
"America as a society is a little reluctant to discriminate
against people because of their ethnic background, but simply because of
Judeo-Christian morals we think it's fine to discriminate against people simply
because of their sexual preference," said John Carespodi,
a student at Reynolds High School.
John did not know about the Day of Silence program in advance,
"or else I would have done it," he said. But he said he realizes that
there is a need for this kind of hatred to end.
In a study of gay youth suicides, the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services found that gay and lesbian youth account for about 30
percent of all teen suicides.
Matthew Hill, the founder of
In a related survey by Rachel Price, the president of
When asked how the Day of Silence project affected her
personally, Price said: "It felt very empowering, and it was great because
it involved everyone. It's hard to imagine what unopen
gay and lesbian youth face about who they are until you experience it
first-hand. I think the Day of Silence helped me to better understand."
Matthew also found the experience worthwhile. "The
harassment sometimes gets to be too much to handle, and I start to doubt my
self-worth, so I think the Day of Silence project was an excellent idea,"
he said. "It was hard to not speak at harassment, though."
Caitlin Wheeler, a student at Reynolds, said that it was
"extremely difficult" not to talk for an entire day. But it was worth
it, she said.
"On a daily basis you can hear, in just about any high
school in
• Garrett Tallent is a freshman at
• For more information,visit
the GLSEN Web site at www.GLSEN.org or the Day of Silence site at www.dayofsilence.org.
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