Day of Silence

Today was the Day of Silence. i was so nervous. i was unsure of the reception we'd get from the student body. i wasn't even sure how many kids would participate, or how committed they'd be. the principal let steph and i read the announcement on the PA this morning. my hands were shaking, and i hoped no one could hear that my voice was also shaking as i read, "students at southwest will join approximately 250,000 students across the nation in peacefully protesting the discrimination, harassment, and abuse faced by minorities and specifically by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and their straight allies...." etc.
I headed to first period, bracing myself for whatever it was that was going to happen....and....nothing bad at all happened. people had fun talking to me and watching me gesture wildly and scramble for a pen and paper to scribble out my message. I thought i heard people saying "that's so gay," but as it turns out, one of the girls in my photo class has a sister who is a lesbian, so she asked for a sticker to wear to show her support for the project. It was like that all day. Not everyone agreed with it, but everyone was curious and polite. At lunch, we ate in silence at a cafeteria table.

Not being able to speak...it's amazing. It's difficult. It isolates you--communication is so limited and so much trouble that you find yourself distanced from everyone else. Silence suppresses you. I found myself wishing I could chime in during interesting conversations, wishing I could add to the jokes and laughter or discussions...but I couldn't. When people did say things like "that's gay," I had to resort to clapping, snapping, waving, and knocking on desks. It wasn't always effective. I found it an interesting simulation of what LGBT students must go through--they hear it all the time and it must stir up something in them, but in an atmosphere of intolerance, they can't really say anything.

Conclusion: I'm extremely pleased with the way this turned out. I know the kids next year will have even more success. I was pleasantly surprised with the respectful reaction we had--Southwest is more tolerant than i thought. And I know I've made somewhat of a difference in my classes--when I couldn't speak today, other students would speak for me: "oh yeah, remember? we're not supposed to say that kind of [homophobic] stuff." My little brother even observed the silence at middle school, enduring taunts from his friends. I'm proud of him for having some fortitude and sticking to his guns.
What we didn't say today spoke volumes.