UNITED COMMUNITY: Members of the QSA raise the Pride Flag.
Photo courtesy of @ea.qsa
This year, on Friday, April 10, people all over the nation participated in the Day of Silence—an annual student-led movement where participants refrain from speaking in order to protest the discrimination and harassment towards the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Day of Silence was first started in 1996 by two university students as a class project. It was later taken on by Glisten (formerly the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), which is an organization that advocates for the queer rights of students. The Day of Silence always takes place on the second Friday of April, with its goal to bring awareness to the silencing of LGBTQIA+ students. “I think the goal of Day of Silence is to bring awareness to the ongoing marginalization of the LGBTQIA community. It’s not something that exists simply in the past,” Will Newman, Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) advisor and Upper School English teacher, explains.
“The silence on Day of Silence is a symbolic and voluntary silence, but it reflects the involuntary silencing of people from the LGBTQIA community and is an opportunity for folks to not only stand in solidarity, but to recognize each other for the ways that they support the queer community,” Newman explains. Elizabeth Mann ’28, an active member of QSA, also shares her views on this event, expressing its goal and importance: “For me, it’s kind of like, oh, we’ve been silenced in history before, and now we’re going to take that silence and, redefine it and re-own it to help us and bring awareness to us.”
At EA, the QSA club organizes this event every year to spread awareness. Students are offered the option to participate by choosing to stay silent for the whole day, half a day, or even just for lunch. Students can also show their support by wearing pins, shirts, or stickers. Cate Washburn ’29, another member of QSA, adds, “It makes students feel supported and, when you see people that aren’t talking, and you’re like, oh wow, people really care.” The day ends with an act of breaking the silence. During Domino, students run across the green together with a large pride flag. Mann also explains, “It’s like historically breaking the silence. We are no longer silenced in the current modern day, and we shouldn’t be silenced.” She further acknowledges how the silence represents not only the present-day situations but also the historical echoes of all those who never got a voice. Newman describes their view on breaking the silence as “something that they do together as one voice, and I think that that’s really cool.”
Newman also mentions how the number of participants has slowly diminished over the years: “For example, in previous years, we would have a sort of pages of long lists of students who are participating silently. And in recent years, that list has grown smaller and smaller to the point where this year, we had seven students sign up in all of [the] Upper School.” They bring up the concerns about the current situation regarding the LGBTQIA+ community: “Folks are scared to indicate their membership in this community and even their support of this community. And I think that though participation has dwindled over the years, it only indicates the ongoing importance of this day.”
Mann reflects on this year’s event stating, “For me, Day of Silence is using the silence that was forced in queer people and making it our own. While the vow of silence is more duty centered, the breaking of the silence is more celebratory in ourselves and our community is more duty centered.”
Overall, the Day of Silence serves as a reminder that silence can be one of the strongest forms of protest. It raises awareness towards the bullying and harassment of LGBTQIA+ students nationwide. The Day of Silence is ultimately about building a future where every person is truly seen and respected.
Editors Note:
Join QSA, Mondays during 2nd lunch in U206