The Day of Silence: What's Your Choice?

The Day of Silence is coming up soon. All around my school people are talking about it. People take sides against homosexuals. It's either for or against it and there is no middle ground. People who don't want to deal with those who are silent choose not to come to school. Those who are silent defend their positions to the end. Everyone has their own opinion, their own thoughts. So what makes the Day of Silence so special that it separates everyone, whether friends or strangers?

So what is the Day of Silence, you may ask. Every year on April 25, people around the country keep silent against the bullying and harrassing that gays and lesbians get. It's a silent plea for the violence against homosexuals to be stopped. Not only that, but it goes deeper into it. Do Americans really get their freedoms? Are we really free of being judged based on things such as race, religion, and sexual orientation? Apparently not. The Day of Silence not only speaks out to those hurt or killed for their beliefs and likes. It's also a silent protest against harrassment against any type of discrimination, although some people may or may not realize this.


Why should you care about the Day of Silence? You're not gay, you're straight. It has nothing to do with you. That's not true at all. Saying that you aren't gay doesn't mean that you have nothing in common with those that are. Many races and religions have recieved discrimination. Not even fifty years ago, a fourteen-year-old black boy named Emmitt Till was killed for whistling at a white woman as she walked down the street. On February 12, an fourteen-year old Lawrence King was killed because of his sexual orientation. Still think that the Day of Silence and all that it represents doesn't have anything to do with you?


Most people have developed an opinon on homosexuals and their lives, whether it is thorugh marriage or otherwise. Fifty percent of all people oppose gay marriages. A small amount have no opinion, and 47 percent support it. Statistics show that women are more open to the idea of it than men. Ages also seem to show the differences between the times. Those who are just beginning to live are becoming more open to their relationships. Those who are 18 to 34 are more widely in favor of it, as are those aged 55 to 64. More people support gay rights than they do gay marriages.


What's your opinion? Are you going to support it or are you going to be one of those who discriminates? Are you going to be one of those who maybe doesn't kill, but doesn't do anything. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." That's a quote by Edmund Burke, a man who, in this case, should be listened to. Did you know that almost 30 percent of gays miss at least one day of school a month because of fear? So what are you going to do? Take a stand or back down? Or, maybe you're going to discriminate against those who may or may not be people just like you.

Resources

http://www.padfield.com/1997/goodmen.html by Wayne Greeson. When Good Men Do Nothing. The Church of Christ in Zion, Illinios.

http://roguepundit.typepad.com/roguepundit/2004/03/statistics_gay_.html first seen in The Seattle Times. Statistics, Gay Marriage, and Equal Rights. Musings From Southern Oregon.

http://www.dayofsilence.org/ various benefactors. When Are You Going To End The Silence?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till various benefactors. Emmitt Till.

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