Day of Silence: Fighting Evil with Duct Tape

This year my school started a Gay-Straight Alliance club. Basically it’s a cool club where we listen to a lot of guest speakers and participate in activities which help us increase support for LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights. We go to a lot of events to support the LGBT community, and we eat a lot of food. Also, our club provides a safe place for LGBT youth to be who they are and not have to worry about prejudiced people. Unfortunately, some members of the LGBT community don’t have such a support system, which is why we decided to partake in the Day of Silence. You can understand what it encompasses just by reading the name. It is in essence a day during which participants choose to be silent. But that is only on the surface. It is also a day of hope and understanding for the LGBT community. The voluntary silence undertaken by participants symbolizes the forced silence members of the LGBT community undertake when they have to hide their sexuality.

This sums it all up quite well!

We are being silent to honor the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders who have been oppressed and prevented from being who they truly are because of consistent fear of being bullied or taunted by those around them. We are also being silent to pay tribute to those who have been mistreated or killed because of their sexuality. 
You might be asking, what does silence do to help the LGBT community? Well, I believe the saying: “Actions speak louder than words.” By being quiet, we are speaking out against the injustice that other people have had to put up with at the expense of the intolerant. 
According to a documentary called the Trevor Project, “More than 34,000 people die by suicide each year.” To put this frightening statistic in perspective, LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, and suicide is one of the leading causes of death in youth aged 15 to 24. I don’t know about you, but I think suicide rates like that should not be tolerated, and people should work harder to prevent LGBT youth from feeling so hopeless that they believe death is the only way out. 
I understand that my school is pretty open towards the LGBT community, but I think it’s still really important to engrain the importance of freedom for all into everyone’s mind. People think they can just get away with saying whatever they want, but they do it at the expense of others.
I have heard some people say that they don’t see a reason in partaking in the silence. They claim that it wouldn't make bullies stop being bullies and wouldn’t make people change their minds about LGBT people.
Here’s what I have to say to them. “You’re wrong that there’s no reason to do it.” What people have to realize is that the point of this, at least at my school, isn’t really to stop the hateful people, but it’s to help other people become more aware of the cause and to help them perhaps speak out now that they are aware of the effects this taunting and negativity has on others. Maybe if they see someone who hasn’t been through all of our assemblies and talk sessions about how horrible bullying is and about how gays should be able to live how they choose saying something like “fag”, they’ll tell that person to stop because they know how hurtful that language is.

Cards we handed out to people had this written on them.

Another reason to do this is to experience what those who have to deal with prejudiced friends and family and isolation have to go through. This takes a lot more dedication to practice. What I mean to say is, by participating in the “Day of Silence”, people have to give up talking, texting, Facebook, sitting with friends, and every other mode of communication for the day. They would have to give up friends for a day, which in perspective is a small sacrifice seeing as some members of the LGBT community live in isolation every day. I didn’t do this. I typed on the computer, wrote notes down, and mouthed words. I thought by just not being able to talk, I would be able to understand how they might feel. But it didn’t work. So if you want to really step into these people's shoes, don’t communicate.

Loneliness faced by some LGBT people. :(

Anyways, how about my experience right? Well, I found it quite easy to stay quiet. The hardest parts were not being able to answer questions posed by teachers, not being able to say thank you to those who helped me by doing things like opening doors, picking up stuff that I had dropped on the floor, and helping me with homework problems (a small thumbs up accounted for that), and not being able to say “Bless you” to people who sneezed. AKA, it was hard not being the polite (sometimes), clumsy nerd that I am.
I only broke the silence five times, and all of these breaches were after seven o’clock at night, so I think I did quite well. I broke the silence the first time to sing U Remind Me by Usher, but I stopped after the first few bars. The next time was to tell my sister I would be watching Harry Potter later on in the day. The third time was to sing again! I sang Beekeeper's Daughter by All-American Rejects. Then the next time was to tell my mom that our dog had thrown up all over the carpet and not my cat, so I wouldn't have to clean it up. The final time I spoke was to say “Come!” to my dogs so I could walk them. See, all perfectly good reasons/accidents. I think I may have a singing problem though… 

I wish I looked like this when I sang.

I was able to give out a few cards to people and spread the word so I think I did a pretty good job at spreading awareness! Next year I hope to convince more people to do it and to spread more awareness. This was definitely a difficult, but great, experience and I recommend that you participate in the Day of Silence next year if you weren't able to this year. It’s a unique experience that helps others. Thanks for reading my blog. Next post will be on The Hunger Games!
Special thanks once again to MiriamChan
And Rachel for the edits.

Day of Silence info: HERE!