Day of Silence

I honestly didn't know it was today. At my old school, people were all about it. I even got bullied for partaking in it. At my current school, no one, not even any LGBT people, seem to know about it. We tried telling them one year, but they took it offensively. :|

Either way, I haven't been silent since 9th grade. Besides, it's our spring break right now, so no one would know whether I'm doing it or not. It's either unknown or looked down upon in Alabama anyway.

Staying quiet about a subject that needs to be talked about seems counter productive, doesn't it?
It isn't like being quiet will make groups like the National Organization For Marriage open their eyes and see that they were just being homophobic bigots the whole time.

My school did the day of silence yesterday.

You just pay five dollars for a t-shirt that says 'Day of Silence 2010' so the teachers know you're partaking in it for the day. After that then you, don't talk for the rest of the day of course. Everyone is usually respectful of it. Although I support LGBT rights I didn't join it. I could never stay silent for a whole day. I feel like if I joined I'd end up talking and that would make me seem like I wasn't taking it seriously or that I was being disrespectful. :/

Well, it's a poll, so I'm posting my answer as well. This is a highly sensitive subject and one I care not to debate on the internet (in-person conversations always seem to work out better for me :P). Anyways, I do not support it. I will not tell why, but I can say that not all reasons are religious. I won't assault anyone for celebrating this either...

Well, let me be clearer. I don't support gay marriage, but I DO support the end of discriminative bullying and whatnot. It's one thing to fight for what you believe in, but bullying, mocking, assault or any of those behaviors are wrong, no matter what group it's aimed at. So, in a sense I do support this day, but in another sense I don't.

EDIT: Wait a minute, this is allowed at a public school? For some reason, if this was aimed for Jews, I doubt they would receive the same sympathy...

Izanagi said:

I didn't partake, because I personally, and not to be taken personally, don't support gay marriage and the likes.

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I'm with you all the way man. I'm a catholic so i frown upon such things. that and i'm homophobic..........

I didn't do anything because I didn't know such a thing existed and I wouldn't anyway because it seems stupid. I love gay people, but that just doesn't make sense. No one cares if you don't talk for a day. Here's a better idea: stop talking to people who are against homosexuals. Forever. That would be more effective.

{NM}Redwolf said:

I'm with you all the way man. I'm a catholic so i frown upon such things. that and i'm homophobic..........

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I'm a confirmed Roman Catholic too, but I don't particularly think it's right to take the Bible at face value. The laws of Leviticus may or may not be valid, but it's not our place to force them on people who don't believe them.

Besides, did Jesus not say to love one another as he has loved us? Why all the hate in his name?

Also, I always forget the day of silence. I'm rather quiet in my day-to-day life anyways, so I bet no one noticed. XD

My post was directed at the dude who just explicitly described himself as a homophobic, not you. You're alright. :P

Ew, they had this at my school. I was like ohh your being silent eh? Well this will be a great time to inform you that homosexuality is an abomination :3 haha they where getting so mad. I tried to see how many people I can make talk. I was getting quite good at it, I knew exactly what buttons to press. In totally I made 11 people break there row, shows how serious they where about that. :)

I'm no homophobe, but I don't support it (Christian here). I really don't get the whole issue with LGBT, why there's so many people making a show of standing up for them. It appears they've become something of a vocal minority anyways. I get the whole playground stigma (Gay as an insult, etc.), but to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if lots of people who end up identifying themselves like this just confused kids learning about so many different forms of sex before they should, and plain ol' drama.

It's funny how us churchgoers need to hush up, but we gotta fight, fight, fight for gay rights. Little observations.

Also, Timbjerr, the Bible doesn't work like that in my experience. Homosexuality, at least, is directly addressed as a sin in both Old and New Testaments. I'm not saying we should all go "Gays go to hell", but glossing over a bit of the Bible to make it more attractive to a single person defeats the point.

EDIT: Eh, Aureol has it right. It's not the time or thread to try that again. I wasn't trying to start a debate in any case.

Hey guys, it's awesome there are so many that are on the same side as me on this issue, but can we please leave that stuff out? There's nothing worse than a debate thread on abortion/LGBT morality/religious tolerance/other moral issues. Let's just leave the topic at whether you supported this day or not before we get angryfaces.

Eh, I kind of already had my angryface, not at people's opposition to the DOS, but the insults at it. Spitting in someone's face like some do just really anger me sometimes.

I was not aware of such a day (but I live in a socially conservative area of a politically divided state).

This does, however, remind me of something many of the members of the SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) organization at my school have done on a yearly basis: paint their faces black and white and not speak the whole day to advocate against drunk driving and to be a representation of those who have died in such accidents.

I totally forgot it was today :S Thankfully I'm normally a quiet person, and seeing as how there weren't that many people in my class today, I didn't talk much anyway.
As a supporter of the LGBT community and friends to those who are or were bullied, I support the day as a whole. I'm not a big fan of being uppity about it to people, I would only make it clear if I had something that I had to talk about, like a presentation or something similar.

When I was a Sophomore in high school, I participated in something similar, which was school-run instead of through a larger group. Rather than focus on LGBT, it was focused on drunk driving and its consequences. I was "killed" in Biology class and spent the rest of the day dressed in black with my face painted white, and I couldn't talk to anybody. I also had to sit at a certain table for lunch, and at the end of the day, everybody that participated stood by the exits to face all of the people leaving.

I didn't even know it existed if that says anything about what I did...

But I probably wouldn't participate anyway because imo protests are a waste of time and it reminds me of those people who wear tape on their mouths to protest abortion and are a joke.