Roundup of articles about "Day Of Silence" areound the country

The DesMoines Register: In silence, students to protest prejudice

Friday is Day of Silence, a nationwide event where middle school, high school and college students draw attention to the harassment experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students.

Students will wear buttons, stickers and T-shirts promoting the event and hand out notecards telling why they are not speaking. Teens at about 43 high schools in Iowa will participate, including schools in Urbandale, Ankeny, West Des Moines, Des Moines, Johnston, Waukee and Southeast Polk. West Des Moines and Des Moines schools do not have classes Friday and will observe the event today."We are raising awareness to homophobia. ... It's saying this is happening and it shouldn't," said Valley High School junior Steven Swim, 16, vice president of the West Des Moines school's Gay-Straight Alliance.
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The Auburn Plainsman: Students mark Day of Silence tomorrow

BY MALLORY BOYKIN / Assistant Campus Editor
Auburn Gay Straight Alliance and Spectrum Alliance are sponsoring a Day of Silence to support the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans-gendered community.
Tomorrow they are asking students to stay silent and at 5 p.m. on Foy Lawn, they will break the silence.
Katie Rowe, AGSA treasurer and a sophomore majoring in social work, said students are keeping quiet to represent those who are silenced because they do not feel safe enough to come out and to take a stand against discrimination against the LGBT community.
Rowe said they are also trying to get gender identity and gender expression in the nondiscrimination policy so they can be protected on campus.
Free T-shirts and packets were handed out on the Concourse Tuesday and Wednesday in support of the Day of Silence.
The packets contained a pledge card, a ribbon and a pen and paper for those giving up talking for the day. The T-shirts have a space where students can write their own message on the back of their shirts for why they are staying silent.
Rowe said Auburn has participated in the Day of Silence for the past couple of years, and she thinks this year’s will be successful.
“It was fairly effective last year, and hopefully it will have a bigger impact,” Rowe said.
Stephen Davis, a freshman theatre major, said he has participated in the Day of Silence in high school and is excited about doing it at Auburn.
“I’m absolutely enthralled because I think that Auburn has the chance to make a larger impact with in the state than a high school,” Davis said.
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The Witchita Eagle: Day of Silence also about redefining
(this is a right wing take on the Day of Silence. Pretty convoluted.(O.M.)

Here's a glossary of terms that some students have reviewed for Friday's Day of Silence:
• Gay. A term used to describe one who identifies as a man and who is attracted to other male-identified people.
• Lesbian. Refers to a woman-identified person who is attracted to other women-identified people.
• Transgender. This term loosely refers to people who do not identify with the gender roles assigned to them by society based on their biological sex. Transgender is also used as an umbrella term for all those who do not conform to "traditional" notions of gender expression and include people who identify as transsexual, or as drag queens or kings.
Ahhh, the things kids learn these days... .
That was a portion of a glossary supplied by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network to kids participating in the event. According to GLSEN, the Day of Silence is a student-led day of action in which "concerned students, from middle school to college, take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment -- in effect, the silencing -- experienced by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students and their allies."
Any reasonable person would side with the GLSEN in opposing name-calling, bullying and harassment. These behaviors are unacceptable for any reason. The divergence comes when the GLSEN and others try to change our vocabulary on what defines sexual identity and acceptable behavior.
According to the American Family Association, which condemns homosexual behavior, four Wichita high schools will be participating in Friday's event: East, Southeast, Northwest and Northeast Magnet.
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