2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the editor: Protest misunderstood
Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Wednesday, April 18, is the national Day of Silence at high schools and colleges, including USM, across the country.
The Day of Silence is an annual event held to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide will observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT and ally students face everyday. In it's 11th year, the Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country.
As this year's Day of Silence approaches, the religious right is increasingly losing its mind over the idea that thousands of high school and college kids around the country will, in a peaceful and civil manner, stand up for the right of gays and lesbians not to be bullied and abused at school. That thought seems to be driving them insane (admittedly a short trip for the Donald Wildmons of the world). Now the Tupelo based American Family Association is telling parents to keep their kids home from school that day, lest they discover that some of their friends don't hate gays as much as their parents and church want them to.
An official with AFA says public school children should not be subjected to pro-homosexual rhetoric during the so-called Day of Silence.
What the kids are protesting is prejudice and bigotry aimed at homosexuals, particularly at the bullying and abuse that so many gay teenagers have to face in schools every day. Only someone who thinks that kind of bullying is okay would equate that with "pro-homosexual" rhetoric.
Randy Sharp of the AFA said they recommend that "if your school is participating in the 'Day of Silence,' that you simply keep your child home from school that day."
Hearing that, one would think that kids are "asked to remain silent" by school administrations catering to "homosexual activist groups"; that is a flat out lie. It is the students themselves who choose to participate and that has nothing to do with whether the school is okay with it or not. Schools themselves do not participate in the event, students at schools participate (and so do some teachers, if they choose to).
It would be nice if these demagogues and frauds would stop equating a protest against anti-gay bullying with being "pro-homosexual." The only way that makes sense is if you're in favor of gay teenagers getting beaten up and bullied. And if that's what you're for, come right out and say it.
Jody Renaldo
The Day of Silence is an annual event held to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide will observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT and ally students face everyday. In it's 11th year, the Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country.
As this year's Day of Silence approaches, the religious right is increasingly losing its mind over the idea that thousands of high school and college kids around the country will, in a peaceful and civil manner, stand up for the right of gays and lesbians not to be bullied and abused at school. That thought seems to be driving them insane (admittedly a short trip for the Donald Wildmons of the world). Now the Tupelo based American Family Association is telling parents to keep their kids home from school that day, lest they discover that some of their friends don't hate gays as much as their parents and church want them to.
An official with AFA says public school children should not be subjected to pro-homosexual rhetoric during the so-called Day of Silence.
What the kids are protesting is prejudice and bigotry aimed at homosexuals, particularly at the bullying and abuse that so many gay teenagers have to face in schools every day. Only someone who thinks that kind of bullying is okay would equate that with "pro-homosexual" rhetoric.
Randy Sharp of the AFA said they recommend that "if your school is participating in the 'Day of Silence,' that you simply keep your child home from school that day."
Hearing that, one would think that kids are "asked to remain silent" by school administrations catering to "homosexual activist groups"; that is a flat out lie. It is the students themselves who choose to participate and that has nothing to do with whether the school is okay with it or not. Schools themselves do not participate in the event, students at schools participate (and so do some teachers, if they choose to).
It would be nice if these demagogues and frauds would stop equating a protest against anti-gay bullying with being "pro-homosexual." The only way that makes sense is if you're in favor of gay teenagers getting beaten up and bullied. And if that's what you're for, come right out and say it.
Jody Renaldo
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