On Friday, April 11, students around the nation participated in a protest of silence for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community called the Day Of Silence. Protesters avoid speaking for the entire day to call attention to the silencing of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment, according to Dayofsilence.com. It began in 1996 at Virginia Tech, and has reached more than 8,000 high schools, colleges, and universities in 2008.
Day of Silence was promoted by the FHS equality alliance, and many students decided to participate. In order to do so, students had to acquire a form from Mrs. Vanlandingham, obtain a signature from each one of their teachers as consent to participate and return the form to Mrs. Vanlandingham, who gave the student a sticker showing their permission to participate.
Sophomore Claire Haupt participated in Day of Silence. She said it was not too challenging, aside from difficulty participating in class.
“There might be a problem for people who are much more naturally louder than I am, but I don’t really have a problem with it,” Haupt said.
Haupt said she chose to participate in Day of Silence to raise awareness of the suffering of LGBT kids.
“It’s just a quiet reminder,” Haupt said.
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