In a former life, I was the president of my alma mater’s LGBT organization. One of the events we did every year was the National Day of Silence. I never thought too much of it, and participated in it with great pride. One of my cohorts was always vehemently opposed to the idea of a Day of Silence and thought that we should instead be having a National Day of Baseball Bats. The idea was that queer people just walked around tapping bats with a “do you really want to call me a faggot?” look. I liked the idea but never took very seriously the plausibility of it.
Where is my bat?
Our crazy right wingers have decided to start Day of Truth, so that on the day when we are all silent out of humble respect for our brothers and sisters who are forced to stay in the closet, they can spew their filth. This reminds me of my first Day of Silence when I was sitting in a class, that has been dominated by the lefties all semester.
Well, on that day the lefties (queer and breeding alike) were silent, and the right-wing idiots started talking about how it was stupid people got pissed off about the exploitation of poor people in the Caribbean. Someone needed to serve Daiquiris on the beach, and they love American money. The good people of the class room wanted to throw the big white man out the window, however the teacher completely out numbered due to our contract with silence had to continue without reproach.
Though, I humbly support the National Day of Silence, I think it is time to stop being quiet and start being heard in the streets.
I, too, was appauled by this National Day of Truth. I wanted to say something about it in class today, but I felt that the kids had no idea what I would be talking about. It has come to my attention that at least 84% of gay HS students are assaulted throughout the course of their 4 years of HS.
Carnegie Mellon, being more practical than its idealistic sister school down the road, allows talk (when it’s really needed) during the National Day of Silence.
😉