The Importance of Organizing a Day of Silence at my High School
By Ben, Member of the High School Organizing Team
Growing up in the Unitarian Universalist church has allowed me to become comfortable with my sexuality, embrace who I am, and accept people for who they are. The values and teachings of the church inspired me to become a founding member of the Gay Straight Alliance in my high school. It is also this upbringing that gave me the confidence, and self-pride to openly express myself as a bisexual male.
Despite Gay Straight Alliances on many campuses, homophobia still runs rampant within our high schools, not only among students, but also within the administration. This is made worse because of the federally funded abstinence-only programs that make sexuality, let alone homosexuality, a taboo subject. GLBTQ sexuality, if mentioned at all, gets only a brief technical mention. GLBTQ students across the nation are rarely able to receive the affirmation and feelings of normality I was fortunate enough to experience in the comprehensive Our Whole Lives program (OWL) at church. Instead, students are left to their own means to decipher the spectrum of sexuality in all its complexity.
OWL helped me find my identity - it answered my many questions, even those that many would find taboo. It is nothing short of a national tragedy that, because of politics, students are denied the same empowering sexuality education experience I received.
Sadly, it is difficult to admit that an end to homophobia is not on the horizon. But there are steps we can take to spread the word about tolerance and to reach out to others with loving acceptance. If all students were able to receive sexual education about GLBTQ relationships, perhaps students would no longer fear the unknown. Perhaps, instead of fearful questioning and scrutinizing, students could finally understand sexual orientation for what it is - expressions of love.
The National Day of Silence is a national demonstration staged every April by high school students, college students, and American citizens across the country. Those participating commit themselves to a day-long vow of silence, in order to protest the taboo status of GLBTQ youth. Though the specific events for the day may vary from school to school, the impact is undeniable- in silence, we speak louder than words ever could. I am proud to say that as president of the Bowie High School Gay Straight Alliance, I had a hand in organizing the school’s first ever official participation in the Day of Silence.
My wish is that the future will see homophobia-free high schools and college campuses. I dream of the day when sexual orientation is uniformly included in all federally funded sexuality education programs. Until that day comes, the silence will never truly be broken.
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