Students use silence to show support: Some to forfeit speech on April 25 in solidarity with LGBT community

Sometimes, silence speaks louder than words.

This is the foundation for the Day of Silence, a student-led nationwide event created by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network to help promote solidarity and support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Day of Silence will take place on April 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event helps illustrate the silence that members of the LGBT community feel they are forced into every day.

"Our society is not really at the point where it is OK to talk about everything. Day of Silence is a way to show support during which everyone bands together and is silenced together," said Michaela Graham, co-chair of the Day of Silence committee.

Ian Sullivan, the other co-chair of the Day of Silence committee, feels that the use of silence as a tool to make a point is very effective.

"Silence can make an even larger statement than speaking," Sullivan said. "A yelling match has never helped anyone win an argument. This event specifically shows the massive number of people who recognize or have felt silenced."

This year's Day of Silence is in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old boy who asked his male friend to be his Valentine. The next day, King's friend came to school and shot him. The killing received virtually no national press as both a school shooting and a hate crime.

While participants range from grade school to college, the event is most prevalent in high schools and colleges. Day of Silence is growing in participation, especially in high schools as they increasingly become more aware of their LGBT population.

In the 2005 National School Climate Survey, four of five LGBT students reported physical, verbal or sexual harassment at school. Thirty percent reported missing a day of school out of fear for their personal safety.

"To have climates like that be standard or average is unacceptable and it creates this atmosphere where silence is more tolerated than talking," Graham said. "The exaggerated silence [of Day of Silence] helps illuminate the silence that is standard for the LGBT students across the country." See Students use silence to show support @ Bulletin (subscription), WA