South’s Gay-Straight Alliance held a student-led Day of Silence where those who pledge the oath of silence remain mute for the entire day. The event protests the erasure and silencing of LGBTQ+ people in school. The event is sponsored by the Gay-Lesbian-Straight Education Network. GLSEN provided pins, stickers, and explanatory post-it notes for our GSA.
The post-it states “Nearly 4 in 5 LGBTQ students don’t see positive LGBTQ representation in their curriculum, nearly 9 in 10 experience verbal harassment, and almost a third miss school for feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.”
People in or out of the GSA, regardless if they were LGBTQ or an ally, participated. Instead of the traditional black tape x over their mouths, people used masks with a black cross drawn on them.
The Day of Silence started in the ’90s by two college students but has grown to reach hundreds of thousands of people. Learn more at the official GLSEN website
