Since 1996, high school and college students have united every April to protest against homophobia. This protest, the National of Day of Silence, entails an entire school day of silence, acknowledging the many gay youths who remain silent as a result of the fear and anxiety brought upon by intolerance.

This protest, started at the University of Virginia by a student, Maria Pulzetti, consisted of 150 students participating in the silent protest. The following year, Pulzetti teamed up with then 19-year-old Jessie Gilliam to make the protest so that it would be done at campuses across the country, thus making it the National Day of Silence. Nearly 100 campuses participated that year, and as time went on the number of schools and participants escalated, especially at the high school level. In 2008,

The Day of Silence played an incredible role in the gay rights movement in the 90s, but now, especially in the aftermath of Prop 8, it’s time activists come up with a more proactive demonstration.

Having been a participant in the Day of Silence since high school, I know the amount of dedication it takes to remain silent. Nasty peers eviscerate you mentally—and although I haven’t experienced it, physically—for taking a stand. Some teachers think you’re participating in the event with the intention of getting out of participating in class, and therefore treat you like a delinquent. The rest are confused and trying to understand the point of another day of silence.

It’s because of bullying that the Day of Silence managed to be such a success in the late 90s and up until now. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), in 2008 86.2% of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender youth experienced verbal harassment, almost half (44.1%) were physically
harassed, and almost a quarter reported being physically assaulted.

These statistics are the fuel behind the Day of Silence, and are what allow the event to grow each year, especially after last year’s, dedicated to Larry King, a teenager killed February 12, 2008 by a peer because of his sexual orientation. Channeling this tragedy into motivation made the event an enormous success, with hundreds of
thousands of students nationwide participating, proving that, as a nation, we are furious with this type of hatred and will no longer stand for it.

Deanna Wozniak, senior biology major and former president of Temple University's Queer Student Union, has run the Day of Silence for three years. She believes high school is the perfect setting for an event such as Day of Silence.

“It’s one of those things that is much more effective in a high school setting, where you can see people every day and it’s always the same people who know whether you’re talking or not,” says Wozniak. “It’s always going to be more effective on a scale where people are more involved.”

Since bullying is mainly found at the high school level, it makes sense that the protest would be most effective at that education level. But, as stated earlier, the movement was started by Pulzetti while she was a student at University of Virginia. When GLSEN decided to back out of working on the Day of Silence with Campus Pride earlier last month, the organization didn’t realize they cut off an invaluable source.

GLSEN is a k-12 organization that doesn’t necessarily have college resources. And by cutting off Campus Pride, GLSEN is sending a message that needs un-mixing. In order for the Day of Silence to continue to function at the college level, there needs to be support for college involvement. GLSEN needs to reach out to a college organization to give and get support or take a stand and say that it would limit the movement to high schools.

Regardless of GLSEN’s decision, the success of the Day of Silence at any institution is dependent on the protesting group size.

Wozniak says that when a small number of students participate in the Day of Silence, especially when it’s the same group who are typically silent, the event isn’t effective. “When you see a very big turn out and half the school being silent, or even at Temple, when you see 500 kids wearing t-shirts or support ribbons, and showing some kind of support, that’s what’s effective. It shows a lot more than just knowing who the gay kids are.”

In this regard, Wozniak is right. Showing support and acknowledging an LGBT presence is important. But it still doesn’t change the fact that, despite the visibility of gay community, bullying still occurs. (Recently an 11-year-old boy in Massachusetts hanged himself because of the persistent harassment he got for being gay.) LGBT people are still assaulted. Proposition 8 still passed.

The Day of Silence, although it has good intentions, has clearly reached the end of its rope. The movement, although started at the university level, needs to stop being silent and start looking like the stereotypical college campus protest; it needs to be loud and clear.

Deborah Hinchey, former president of Pennsylvania College Democrats agrees. The senior political science and history major says, “On a college campus it’s hard because you have to figure out a way to make a spectacle and make a splash without really making any noise. But the real reason why the Day of Silence isn’t effective is because we are
past the point in our movement where silence is what we’re looking for.”

Wozniak also concurred about the waning effectiveness of the event. She added, “We realized in college that being loud is much more effective and while, yes, we should be speaking out more rather than being silent and doing the bully’s work for them, I think it’s important to look at it from both sides. I think the demonstration of silence is really important and it gives you something to think about and measure everything else against.”

Until we as a group of concerned citizens can come up with a better, effective protest, all we can hope for is that the Day of Silence continues spreading its message and that it will reach that heartless bully, letting him know that it is not OK to torment someone because of who they are.