2008 Woodie Awards
Day of Silence and gay rights
Mark Freeman
Issue date: 4/17/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
As someone who supports gay rights, I find the annual Day of Silence to be ineffective.
The Day of Silence is a student organized event across the U.S. in high school and colleges. It intends to raise awareness about the plight of gay, lesbian and transgender people by staying silent for an entire day. Keeping quiet will supposedly teach participants about how gays are bullied and harassed by a discriminating society. This year on April 18, over 100,000 students in over 1,900 schools, including Saint Mary's College, will participate.
The event sounds like a great idea at first. After all, isn't America completely ignorant about how gays are treated? But as a May 2006 Gallup Poll shows, 89 percent of Americans believe that gays should be given equal rights in terms of job opportunities. If an overwhelming majority understand that gays receive unfair treatment in the workplace, America probably understands that gay people are discriminated against in other areas of society as well.
Combined with media coverage of gay pride parades and celebrities speaking on behalf of gay rights, America is certainly aware of how gays are treated.It just isn't listening.
The second problem with the Day of Silence is its method. America is the home of the brave and the land of the loud. We are a nation where press coverage and word of mouth goes a long way. During the Day of Silence, voices who could be speaking out on behalf of gays are rendered useless in an event that delivers symbolic, rather than practical, results.
It is incomprehensible why the national organizers of the Day of Silence, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), think that a nationwide quiet time will lead to more gay rights.
Social advancement is anything but silent. Wasn't the Civil Rights Movement a response to decades long silence in the face of abuse? This would not have occured if they stayed silent. The event raises more questions than answers. "How will this help gay rights?" People participating cannot answer.
The Day of Silence can be exploited by unscrupulous people who would rather take a day off participating in class than actually supporting gay rights.
So if the Day of Silence is ineffective, what can people do? Vote for one thing. In 2000, California passed Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman only. Perhaps if those who participate in the Day of Silence had decided to speak up, changes in gay rights could happen.
Maybe then we can stop raising awareness and start trying to solve the problem.
The Day of Silence is a student organized event across the U.S. in high school and colleges. It intends to raise awareness about the plight of gay, lesbian and transgender people by staying silent for an entire day. Keeping quiet will supposedly teach participants about how gays are bullied and harassed by a discriminating society. This year on April 18, over 100,000 students in over 1,900 schools, including Saint Mary's College, will participate.
The event sounds like a great idea at first. After all, isn't America completely ignorant about how gays are treated? But as a May 2006 Gallup Poll shows, 89 percent of Americans believe that gays should be given equal rights in terms of job opportunities. If an overwhelming majority understand that gays receive unfair treatment in the workplace, America probably understands that gay people are discriminated against in other areas of society as well.
Combined with media coverage of gay pride parades and celebrities speaking on behalf of gay rights, America is certainly aware of how gays are treated.It just isn't listening.
The second problem with the Day of Silence is its method. America is the home of the brave and the land of the loud. We are a nation where press coverage and word of mouth goes a long way. During the Day of Silence, voices who could be speaking out on behalf of gays are rendered useless in an event that delivers symbolic, rather than practical, results.
It is incomprehensible why the national organizers of the Day of Silence, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), think that a nationwide quiet time will lead to more gay rights.
Social advancement is anything but silent. Wasn't the Civil Rights Movement a response to decades long silence in the face of abuse? This would not have occured if they stayed silent. The event raises more questions than answers. "How will this help gay rights?" People participating cannot answer.
The Day of Silence can be exploited by unscrupulous people who would rather take a day off participating in class than actually supporting gay rights.
So if the Day of Silence is ineffective, what can people do? Vote for one thing. In 2000, California passed Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman only. Perhaps if those who participate in the Day of Silence had decided to speak up, changes in gay rights could happen.
Maybe then we can stop raising awareness and start trying to solve the problem.