The Gay-Straight Alliance at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South has about 70 people on our e-mail list. Roughly 20 students show up to our regular meetings. For the Day of Silence on Friday, April 20, we set up a small table full of rainbow ribbon pins and small cards explaining what the Day of Silence is so that the student participants can show their teachers and friends.
A good majority of the teachers respect the pledge and in classes I’ve attended in the past, some even take the time to make a little speech in the first five minutes of class about the importance of the day. In general the school respects the day.
One of the reasons I love the day so much is that out of the about 1,600 students, lots of them join in. Not only those in the GSA participate, but students from all grades and clubs join in by taking the pledge of silence. While not everyone at South is an active part of the GSA, most are accepting of LGBTQ students and see the necessity for a day like this.
For many students, the suicide of Tyler Clementi hit very close to home and opened their eyes to what gay youth go through and the silence they are at times forced to endure, even in our home state.
The Day of Silence is often interpreted differently by students. Some carry around whiteboards and markers to communicate and some simply keep to themselves all day. But at the end of it all, the message boils down to having a day dedicated to those who feel stifled by the world around them — those who feel that they do not have a voice.
The next day in school, students who participated often tell me how frustrated they felt with not being able to communicate with the people around them. As an out lesbian teenager, I tell them that I often feel that way. Living in a world where being able to get married or adopt children is illegal for me is often hard to deal with, and when I hear the occasional gay slur, I feel silenced.
The silence represents those who feel that prejudice has taken their voice from them. The most interesting part, believe it or not, is when a large fraction of the school falls silent, people start listening.
While there have not been any negative reactions to the Day of Silence, homophobia does exist at my school. Still, I see less and less homophobia as time goes on. With each passing year, I think the populous of South becomes more understanding and sensitive to the rights of minorities, especially the LGBT community.
Rebecca Rost
President, Gay Straight Alliance Sophomore, High School South
