The Day of Silence: The Right Idea for the Wrong Reason

I found this link to an article that I thnk you guys might be interested it. It about the Day of Silence movement and its really interesting. Check it out. this is not spam dude.

The Day of Silence - Full Article :beatdeadh




I really love to hear what all of you think about it. I tend to agree with the writer.

 

I think the article misses the whole point. The narrow focus on Homosexuality is exactly what it wants to address...there are lots of other evils, injustices, abuses in the world. There are various ways people or groups of people address those wrongs. The day of silience is about gay issues...its supposed to be a narrow focus.

Why is that a bad thing...to focus on the object of your concern. So I support the day of silence and what it stands for. I'm interested to hear why you don't.

 

I am participating in the Day of Silence at my school, it is a great cause. It is mainly to get those people to feel what it is like and sympathize with people who have to hide their true sexuality due to the intolerance of other poeople.

 

I think its wierd

 

When I see brave young kids stand up for their rights in the face of often hostile peer/adult pressure it gives me great hope. Forgive me about the word "kid" I mean no disrespect...some of the finest people I know, regardless of age, are "Kids", hopeful, fun-loving, optimistic and eternally young in spirit. I wish you the the best of luck young man...ya made an old man proud. Steve

 

The person who wrote the article doesn't quite get the point, I think. The point of Day of Silence is to shed light on the silence faced by many GLBTQ individuals who are unable to express who they are because of fear of harassment and hate. I feel like this type of discrimination and fear is fairly specific, and that it is important to have a day devoted to such a specific cause, rather than to have a general day of silence for all types of discrimination.

 

Half of you will have very different views on this when you get to the age where you start to look like a dad and see what happens with girls/women. You need to see for yourself the familiarity between that behaviour and what happened in early childhood to connect the dots.

Then you'll see why some mums know some things that they never talk about, some dads know somethings they never talk about, there are only some things bigger guys will see about the girls, why some shorter straight guys will never have a clue about women, and why half of the exclusive gay male population will never really understand what really has to be protected.

Why half of us have to hide from women, and why half of us have to advertise our gayness will come as a big big shock to the ones that have to hide.

The darker side to male sexuality is upfront, in everyones face sometimes. The darker side to female sexuality is hidden, very very sneaky and only comes out when certain issues and urges are at their strongest and only comes out of some of them.

Some mums know somethings that only come out when some instincts are switched on, some gay guys will only see some things once certain familiarities trigger repressed early childhood memories.

Some of you will see there is a lot a crap and missfocus designed to protect the girls during Plan A (Up to around 27 yrs). The kicker is not everyone sees it and those that do always continue the cover up, after all, its the real reason we are all here

 

I'd also like to mention that I'm participating in this cause because it affects me on a very personal level. No one but my closest of friends know that I'm gay (Neither my parents, nor any of my family know), and I therefore, am forced, to conceal my homosexuality in an effort to seem more "normal" to the other, more homophobic youths of my school. Many of my friends accept me for who I am. And I easily understand that some people are just raised believing that homosexuality is wrong. Strangely enough, my parents are very accepting of gays, my sister's on the other hand, aren't. Most of my classmates are accepting of gays, but many others aren't. Hopefully the Day of Silence can help people realize that it is a terrible thing to force LGBT's to hide, or downplay their sexuality in order to be socially accepted.

I'd like to note that I'm not doing this to gain sympathy for my self, I'm doing it because I can sympathize with everyone else who knows how I feel and I don't believe that anyone should hide who they truly are.

 

yeah kind of like what he said round were I live if you were to take part in this sort of thing it would be like wearing a neon sign saying " hay Neo-Nazi dude's here I am beet the crap out of me "

so I got to say its a stupid idea I have nothing against this sort of protest thing-umbob but Its idiotic to stick your neck out on the chopping block hand the axe to some bigot and hope your head stays in one piece

 

Just because you participate in the Day of Silence, it doesn't mean that you are gay. About 50 people have signed up (at my school) to remain silent, and there are about 100 "allies," or people who support the cause. I highly doubt that all of them are gay/lesbian/bi/transgender. There are many people participating, not because they are succumbing to bigotry, but because they wish to fight it by supporting their LGBT friends and family in fighting for a cause that affects tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people.

 

yeah well round here if you talk to a gay guy then you can get called a " homo lover " and these old kkk boys don't see any difference in a " homo or and homo lover "


and for all you yankee's that think I'm exaggerating well I ain't cause I know how these guys think I use to be one of them

but from what most of yall are saying theres a lot of places were that ain't so

love to see that some day

 

It's a pity that people like that exist where you live. There aren't many openly anti-gay people at my school, it is rather socially acceptable. I think I'll stay out of Florida for the time being, lol.

 

I didn't say a single word today at school =D
I was so proud carrying my sign around and writing out questions, asking my teachers for help on stuff.
It's a GORGEOUS reason to stay silent. Gay rights are equal rights, and homophobes are sad people. sad, sad people.

 

Oh shit >__< I missed it! RAWWWWR!

 

I don't support this day just because I don't see it working. It's not changing anything, it's just giving bullies a new target ("fag-lovers" instead of "fags"). they should change to just "support gays" day or something, we could all puffy-paint t-shirts with rainbows and I <3 LGBT and sayings like "there's no such thing as gay-rights, just HUMAN-rights". Then when people ask us about them, we can explain why it's so incredibly wrong to treat LGBT people any differently.

 

I don't get it. Aren't gays alienated enough already?

 

Have to say, this statement is utterly retarded. Was the Million Man March shit because it failed to directly reference all other forms of discrimination?

But to clarify my last post, it's specifically the "silent" bit I don't like, because apart from anything else, it's disruptive without the action particularly making sense in relation to the cause (IMO, obv.). Most gay kids in my school were pretty withdrawn, so tbh I doubt anyone would notice if they didn't say anything all day!

It's also problematic because the nature of the protest prevents teachers from showing their support.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.
I was actually out on a date with this boy on the Day of Silence, and eventually I remarked that we were being pretty awful gays by how talkative we were being, and our conclusion was simply, "Fuck it."

 

It'd be wrong to say that this is just a way for gays to say "I'M GAY AND PROUD" without having to be able to actually get a date, wouldn't it.

Yeah.

I won't say that.

 

You have to remember that USA is rare in the sense that we have a lot of minority groups.......to lessen the load of hatred and bigotry. In other countries, hiding out is sometimes a homo's only defense for survival. Sad but true. As long as there is a very strong majority in a country the weak will eat it if the majority group decides to prey on them. I'm sure you're thankful you live in America, but if people get careless in America.............