Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of schools were expected to participate in Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s 13th annual National Day of Silence Friday by taking some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) name-calling, bullying and harassment.
 
Students from more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges registered as participants in last year’s Day of Silence, a student-created and student-led event that is sponsored nationally by GLSEN. Students typically participate by remaining silent throughout the school day, unless asked to participate in class. The event is designed to illustrate the silencing effect of this bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT.

Some students are holding the day this year in memory of Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old from Springfield, Mass., who took his life April 6 after enduring constant bullying at school, including anti-LGBT attacks. Carl, who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 on the Day of Silence.
 
“The Day of Silence is a positive event during which students bring attention to the pervasive problem of anti-LGBT bullying in our nation’s school, a problem far too often ignored,” GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said. “It is inspiring to see so many young people take action to make their schools safer. Yet, just last week, we learned of another reminder of the tragic consequences of anti-LGBT bullying. It didn’t matter to Carl’s bullies that he didn’t identify as gay. Bullies learn from an early age to use homophobic language as the ultimate weapon to degrade their classmates.”
 
Two of the top three reasons students said their peers were most often bullied at school were actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender expression, according to From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America, a 2005 report by GLSEN and Harris Interactive. The top reason was physical appearance.
 
Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth (86.2 percent) reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, nearly half (44.1 percent) reported being physically harassed and about a quarter (22.1 percent) reported being physically assaulted, according to GLSEN’s 2007 National School Climate Survey of more than 6,000 LGBT students.
 
To bring attention to this problem, many students will hand out speaking cards on the Day of Silence, which read:
 
“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.”

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. For information on GLSEN’s research, educational resources, public policy advocacy, student organizing programs and educator training initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.

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