Opinion column: Protesting with silence
April 11, 2005
My boyfriend and I can walk around campus holding hands without getting strange looks. I can use the women’s restroom without confusion and without fear that this action will prompt another student to write an insensitive column. I can get married whenever I want, wherever I want.
These privileges, however, do not extend to homosexual and bisexual couples or to transgender people. From the “little” instances of discrimination, such as the strange looks and angry comments gay and lesbian couples often receive, to the more obvious forms of discrimination, such as hate crimes against homosexuals and transgender people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face a storm of resistance to their sexual identities and choices every day. Some of these instances of discrimination discourage LGBT lifestyles, and others actually legally prohibit expression of LGBT identities (*cough*gaymarriagebans*cough*), but all are a form of silencing LGBT people and lifestyles.
This Wednesday, April 13, I will wear black and remain silent from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to protest societal silencing of LGBT people and issues. Before I get e-mails with comments like “It’s about time you shut up, you opinionated bitch,” I’d like to point out that this will be a very loud silence. In fact, hundreds of my closest friends on campus and thousands of university students across the nation will also silently wear black this Wednesday, and we will call it the Day of Silence.
See, what began as a silent protest at the University of Virginia in 1996 eventually expanded into an annual event called the Day of Silence involving more than 100,000 students at universities across the country. Participants in the Day of Silence wear black clothing and a rainbow ribbon and pass out cards explaining the reasons for their silence.
On our campus, participants are invited to eat lunch on the quad within a marked “Hate-free Zone” from 12-1 p.m. A Break the Silence Rally featuring Maya Keyes and local singer Joni Laurence will be held in front of the Union at 5 p.m. Also, students are invited to wear “Break the Silence” T-shirts on Thursday, the day after the Day of Silence.
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Anyone interested in participating can pick up (free) rainbow ribbons and silence cards and purchase “Break the Silence” T-shirts for $5 on the Quad today or tomorrow. Anyone with questions about the Day of Silence or about LGBT concerns can visit www.dayofsilence.org or www.uipride.org, or contact Sue Kazmierczak at [email protected].
Whether or not you identify yourself as homosexual, bisexual or transgender, I encourage your participation in the Day of Silence. You don’t have to be gay to feel outrage at the hate acts against homosexuals that occur every day. You don’t have to be gay to understand that people who do not share conventional Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality should not be forced by law to live these beliefs. You don’t have to be LGBT to realize that lack of information and honest discussion about LGBT people and issues feed discrimination against LGBT people. And you don’t have to be LGBT to fight the silencing effect this lack of information and discrimination has on LGBT identities.
The silence affected by students across the nation on Wednesday will call attention to the societal silencing of LGBT people. Furthermore, the Break the Silence Rally will make a statement about the need to give voice to LGBT issues and concerns. I ask all students to join with PRIDE and the Office for LGBT Concerns as they utilize the Day of Silence to encourage our University to actively recruit LGBT faculty and staff, promote further education and awareness regarding transgender issues, offer a LGBT minor, push for equal health insurance benefits for domestic partners and married couples and rally around the marriage equality effort.
It’s time to break the silence that prevents honest discussion about LGBT issues, the discrimination LGBT people face and the rights LGBT people deserve.