Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Day of Silence Facts

Tomorrow, WHS, along with students all across the US, will observe the Day of Silence, a day when students can choose to silence themselves to protest the discrimination and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. Here's some interesting facts about the event:

-The Day of Silence has been an annual event since 1996. The first was organized by students at the University of Virginia.

-After extensive press coverage of the 1996 DoS, Jessie Gilliam and Maria Pulzetti created a web page, resulting in 100 colleges and universities participating in the 1997 "National Day of Silence."

-Each year, the number of NDoS participants grows. In 2002, more than 1,900 schools participated.

-Not everyone supports the NDoS. In 2003, several conservative groups protested the event by picketing and even telling children not to go to school that day. According to an April, 2003 cnsnews.com article, the protests were made by those "fearing that homosexual students will spread their message in classrooms."

-GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network) and USSA (United States Student Association) have made an official website for the event, dayofsilence.org.

Sources: Official Website
CNSNews.com article

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your comments are valued greatly. Please adhere to the decorum on the "First time here?" page. Comments that are in violation of any of the rules will be deleted without notice.

3/11 Update - No Moderation

*Non-anonymous commenting is preferred to avoid mix-ups. Anonymous comments are, at the behest of management, more likely to be deleted than non-anonymous comments.