Day of Silence - April 25

I found out tonight that a slew of high schools and others around the country are going to observe a day of silence on April 25 in commemoration of "Lawrence King, a 15 year-old student who was killed in school because of his sexual orientation and gender expression."

From what I gather they do this every year, but it will be especially meaningful this year.

"The Day of Silence is held by students every year to bring attention to anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) name-calling, bullying and harassment. The senseless tragedy at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, Calif., brings even more meaning to a day that has brought hope to millions of students."

Sadly I had to find out about this from an letter to the editor in the SJ Mercury protesting this, calling for parents to keep their kids home that day in protest.  This woman was calling the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (which is sponsoring this event) highly partisan, asking people to keep their kids home. I stumbled across some supportive blogs, but the AFA and other so-called family value groups are calling for a major protest, publishing school names and calling for letter writing to take the schools off the list and/or keep their student home that day.  I'm happy to see many local schools on the list, although officially they are keeping the registered students and schools confidential. 

I'm sure none is surprised that I would fully support this day of silence (think it starts in middle school), and sure don't respect any sort of "family value" that calls for intolerance and showing hate towards any kids for their differences.  I did stumble across one positive comment, among the hundreds of icky ones - "Soooo.... Parents are encouraged to teach there children bigotry? Doesn't seem Christian to me."   Yes, folks, this is not encouraging people to be gay, a form of sex eduction, or part of some homosexual conspiracy, it's to highlight  the need for tolerance, provide some understanding of what many kids experience in school, especially kids of different sexual orientations than "the norm", and what horrible results hate can have.

I was fortunate to not experience much harassment as a kid, although my social awkwardness certainly didn't lead to any popularity.  I would hope we were pretty tolerant at my school, but I may have been a bit blind to any.  I want my kids, and all kids, to be met with tolerance and understanding and kindness, but am no longer naive enough to think that will be the case unless we, parents, schools, and other kids, are actively teaching and portraying it.  I am glad to see groups like this taking a stand, and even more pleased to see how many students are supporting it.

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