A Loud Statement Made by a Silent Protest

Over twenty students at WUHMS participated in the National Day of Silence, on April 22 to demonstrate against harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ students around the country.

The need for this demonstration is shown in the results of a recent survey where 42% of LGBTQIA+ students in WCSU responded that they “were significantly less likely to strongly agree or agree that they matter to people in their community compared to heterosexual / cisgender students” according to QSA advisor Annie Luke who helped organize the school event.

The National Day of Silence was started in the 90s by college students and then the message spread throughout schools. The students participating go a day without speaking and some break the silence while participating in other more public protests or events.

Two 8th graders, Priscilla Richardson and Schuyler Hagge, here at Woodstock participated in support of students who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. “It was a symbolic exercise to show that some people don’t feel comfortable talking about who they truly are, so we didn’t talk for the day,” Priscilla said..

The Day of Silence was introduced to Pricilla and Schuyler through Ms. Hanrahan, the 8th grade English teacher. The other teachers who didn’t know they were participating were shown a slip of paper that they would show to the teachers at the beginning of class that read:

Day of Silence: Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you ARE NOT hearing today.

Pricilla says she was working on a group project that day and had to let her group know, “I had to be upfront with the people the day before and say hey I’m not going to talk tomorrow.”

“People should be able to talk about who they are to the people that they care about and it’s really unfortunate that they can’t do that, they can’t feel like they have a safe space” says Schuyler.

“We should just build awareness for people who don’t feel comfortable… so that they think ‘oh this is an actual problem and maybe there is something I could be doing,” Pricilla states.

Well just one day, students who participated in the Day of Silence hope that LGBTQ students will feel more supported.