On Friday April 15th, MCS students joined students from around the country in taking an oath of silence for the day to raise awareness about the impact of bullying and homophobic slurs on the LGBTQ community. They carried cards reading:
Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the Silence?
Students. Please share something about your experience of the Day of Silence by commenting on this blog post.
The Day of Silence was an inspirational event for me. The Day of Silence demonstrated the feeling of weakness when you are not allowed to speak your mind. During the Day of Silence I felt handicapped when I wanted to share my thoughts, but could not because of my vow of silence. My silence showed me how irritating and painful it feels when you have many thoughts brimming in your head but you are not allowed to share them. My vow of silence mirrored the eternal silence that is felt by many LGBTQI youths that cannot speak many of their thoughts. The Day of Silence was an amazing experience for me. I look forward to the next day of silences so our community can work towards a future where LGBTQI youths feel free to speak their minds.
ReplyDelete-Emma
I believe that the Day of Silence was an extremely important event in our LGBTQI activism project. It really highlighted the helpless feeling of not being able to express what you want to say and how you feel about something. Of course our experience was but a taste of the turmoil that these kids may be sentenced to on a daily basis. I constantly had to check myself to make sure I wouldn't slip talk, for them the stakes are much higher. If they slipped and mentioned something that could lead their classmates to believe they are anything but straight, these kids might become a walking talking target for bullying. Just imagining having to hide who you really are to your friends and family while putting on a mask of 'normality' to compensate for the secret they are hiding,seems unbearable. The Day of Silence gave us insight on the 24/7 task of silence shoved upon LGBTQ kids.
ReplyDeleteI think that the day of Silence was very interesting because you really get to experience what kids the same age as you are feeling as LGBTQI. Kids have to deal with so much drama and not being excepted by their piers and family. Kids might be a walking target for bullies because they are "Different". I thought that the day of silence was a chance for me to experience the weakness and suffering that LGBTQI students go through. I found myself wanting to tell one of my friends something and it was really hard for me to just keep it in my mind and that was when I realized that being silent is really difficult and it is really annoying to have to be quiet. This Dat of Silence was very inspiring day for me because now a truly see what LGBTQI students go through daily.
ReplyDelete-Oni
The day of silence for me, showed me that life for some people is not about having fun with your friends, sharing secrets, going out and having fun or anything like that. It showed me that life for LGBTQI students is more about really thinking about what you are saying and concentrating on keeping your mouth shut, in fear of giving away too much of their personal lives.
ReplyDeleteLunch, especially was the hardest time for me, and I suppose it would be for LGBTQI's as well. Lunch is an opportunity to talk freely with others, and not have to worry about raising your hand to get permission to do so. However, it seems as if LGBTQI's are always asking for permission to speak, and they are denied that offer. All through lunch I found myself struggling to keep quiet, and I also found that some of my friends who did not take the pledge to be silent, were doing the same. The whole room felt so silent, and not even the music playing from my class mate's ipod could break the tension I felt that day. However, that day also helped me realize that this day was not just about keeping silent for the fun of it, but it was about trying to get as close as possible to experiencing the daily lives of LGBTQI students.
The day of silence was an important and interesting event for me because i was able to sympathize and understand a lot more about how LGBT kids and adults feel. We always talk about the bullying that goes on for them and how they must feel but experiencing it had a lot more impact to me. My views of the difficulties they go through definitely changed and I feel like I have a better understanding now. It was surprisingly very hard not to talk, even for only half the day. I felt more strained and limited. Thinking about how this is only merely a taste of what LGBT kids and adults have to go through definitely raises awareness in my mind to a completely different level. The Day of Silence helped me to understand their circumstances a lot more.
ReplyDeleteMy personal experience during the day of silence was not what I had expected. I expected it to be more quite. I found myself talking a lot and sometimes forgetting that I had to be silent. I actually wanted to give up. What’s funny is that I’m gay and I can talk about who I like whenever I want. Other LGBTQI youth struggle every day they go to school with not being able to share certain feelings they have with others who can. The day of silence showed me that I’m pretty lucky to go to MCS because it is such an accepting community. I found the project pretty frustrating because I had so much to say. I signed up to be silent thinking that it was going to be easy but I was wrong. I wouldn’t say I had fun being silent but it was nice to learn and know how LGBTQI youth experience each day.
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