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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Logan Marks Day of Silence in Support of Gay Students

By Priya Jagannathan, Courier Staff Writer



Junior Sana Younus was silent
Wednesday, Jessica Rosales/Courier Photo
Dozens of James Logan's gay students and their supporters fell silent Wednesday, participating in the annual Day of Silence sponsored by Logan's Gay-Straight Alliance club, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and the USSA (United States Student Association).

"People keep asking me why I'm silent if I'm not homsexual," said participant Sana Younus, a junior, in a note she jotted to avoid speaking, "Well, I want to prove my support for the homosexual culture and being silent is a demonstration tat be carried out withou violent means or unlawful methods."






“Our deliberate silence echoes that, which is caused by harassment, prejudice and discrimination. On this day, we are completely silent or as silent as we can be. We do this all day and after school all the participants gather together in Colt Court and do a countdown until 3PM & then we break the silence with songs, screams, noise and drums. If you want you could continue with this until the following day,” said Angela Dunn, a senior , involved with the movement.


Freshman Leslie Sandoval was silent, too.
Jessica Rosales/Courier Photo
The Day of Silence, which is a registered trademark, is an annual event held to bring attention to bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people, and harassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT and ally students face everyday. In it's 11th year, the Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country.

The first-ever Day of Silence was held at the University of Virginia in 1996. By 2002, organizing efforts led to its observation in more than 1,900 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across the country in 2002.

Participating students around the country hand out "Speaking Cards" which say: - "Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discriminaton. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today."

Posted by courier at 11:45:34. Filed under: News

Comments

GRob, stop being immature and rude.

Posted by Lucky at Wednesday, April 18, 2007 20:01:35

This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

Support "homosexual culture"? Since when is it a culture? (And please don't tell me when they came out with "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," if anything, that type of stereotype just makes a mockery out of gay people. That's like those old racist plays in which they had people "play" black people by putting paint on their faces and stealing watermelon (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...))

What's next? Spina bifida culture? Webbed-feet culture? People-with-glasses culture? People with spina bifida, webbed-feet, and glasses, probably go through theif fair share of social hardship for their personal character traits, and they are all minorities too (except maybe the glasses one, I dont' know). So are we going to have a day of silence for people with glasses? Are we going to make a culture out of spina bifida?

I enjoy being attracted to the opposite sex, is that a culture too? "Heterosexual culture"?

This is not a culture, it's just liberalism, celebrating politicized victimization, and a LACK of culture. It's one thing to be gay, or to talk about gay rights or right to privacy or marriage rights, it's another to start creating a celebrating victimization and creating a "culture" around a personal character trait.

Btw it's this type of thing that shows the stupidity of anti-discrimination laws and hate crime laws -- you can't criticize people if the government has decided they're all too sensitive!

Posted by Some Guy at Wednesday, April 18, 2007 20:32:53

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