The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Day of Silence - April 25th
Zephyr_Fate
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Anyone here participating? My college is participating in it (University of Oregon) and I am as well. I believe fighting homophobia is definitely beneficial for society, by any means possible. It's also a memorial to Lawrence King, a 15-year-old who was shot in the head by another student for expressing his feelings to him, apparently over a Valentine's card.
What are your thoughts on the Day of Silence as a whole?
More on the movement can be found here: http://www.dayofsilence.org - thanks, Agent99.
What are your thoughts on the Day of Silence as a whole?
More on the movement can be found here: http://www.dayofsilence.org - thanks, Agent99.
Zephyr_Fate on
0
Posts
Only a few of us participated in my school last year and now a lot more are joining in this year.
I participated last year and it was rather interesting, however, I had an incident during the day...all 6 of us were wearing stickers that said the day of silence on them and a group of boys came up to me and knocked my books out of hand and used some harsh words (I'm in high school). I was disgusted that someone would do that…
So, for that year and the one after, it was instead a day for me to be a very vocal and very visible transperson and promote for any other not-out transpeople watching how liberating it can be to speak after having been silent so long. I guess the idea doesn't hold up completely? It sort of became a tradition though, haha.
The silent folks usually had a hard time in high school, too -- the same sort of stuff, having books thrown to the floor or just being pushed around. The one year I was around and it went down in college, only a handful of people participated and even those few only participated on-and-off.
I'm not in a situation where it's really meaningful this year, so I won't be doing anything. Best wishes and big thanks to all LGBTQA, though!
(The 'A' is for allies, so that includes the non-LGBTQ people, for the uninformed. Saves space. :P)
I guess I haven't felt it was quite as relevant at a cosmopolitan university... but then again, I suppose a display of support is never really irrelevant.
Is there some kind of link?
Type in the first three words of the thread title, delete spaces, and add an org to the end.
On a side note, to those of you in high school doing this I commend you. It is probably the best place to have an impact. I'm sorry if mistreatment goes on, but that in itself is a dialog of sorts. Not a good but one nonetheless kudos to you all especially.
Thanks.
So, sadly, no. My gay friends will understand.
En Masse it gets noticed. I've got nothing past that.
I think it's a good thing to do once, but there's a lot of intellectual legwork involved in understanding its relevance and so its value is often lost on the people to whom these lesson needs to reach most desperately.
The kids at my high school who participated tended to have a button on their shirt or a piece of paper or something that explained what they were doing, that they would point to if anyone asked them. It seemed like everyone already knew what was going on though so no problems arose.
Because t-shirts or pins or flyers are IMPOSSIBLE to produce.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of participants just cheat and do things like sign or write on pieces of paper so that they're still communicating and it's just like what!! But anyway I still think it's valuable because it's effectively a national holiday that hits most high schools and creates some sort of awareness, even if it's currently not showing much effect.
I'm in Seattle, I live and work in an area where a Republican moving in next door is going to stir up way more controversy than a gay couple, and I have to talk for my job.
You KNOW they'd love that.
Personally I'm not so sure if a day of silence is what we need anymore. I like National Coming Out Day a lot more.
When I hear people say homophobic things, I just say something like "Why do you have to be so mean about it?" or "It's not really your problem, just leave them alone". If I have time, I try to explain that in most cases it's part of who a person is, not something they choose to be. Sadly, almost all homophobic people I've run across INSIST that a person CHOOSES to be gay, not that they just happen to be attracted to the same sex instead of the opposite sex. Then I just /facepalm and go about my business.
In any case, in high school calling a person out on being homophobic is probably no better than staying silent for the cause since high school kids are all dogmatic and naive in some way or another and would just brush you off or start insulting you for suggesting that they're wrong.
For us "grown-ups", I'd say it's probably better to just speak up when someone is being an ass.
XBL: QuazarX
It's not that hard to figure out.
I actually havea discussion session tomorrow for a class so I shouldn't stay quiet for that.
Haha I told my recitation I was gay on national come out day. It had to do with the discussion but it was an odd coincidence.
Wait, it's the 25th already. Fuck.
Well I'll spare a few minutes silence for the gay community while I have some beer to finish off the evening.
They did this last year when I was in law school and I thought it was kind of a pointless gesture, like a Take Back The Night rally. Being silent doesn't really impede on people much when you're in a populated urban setting. I did get a free lunch out of it though, so I'm torn.
This is one of my big problems with social conservatives. Here we are with millions of people in the world who are of non-hetero sexual orientation, and social conservatives believe it's all some sort of conspiracy. Years ago they would have blamed it on 'demons', but now that they see how crazy that makes them sound, they've switched to some crazy double-think mode.