The promotional slogan for the annual Day of Silence asks, “What are you going to do to end the silence?” Yet silence is the name of the game. April 15, 2011, will mark this year’s “Day of Silence,” held annually since 1996 and sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) since 2001. The aim of the day is to encourage students to take a vow of silence during the school day for the purpose of drawing attention to anti-homosexual bullying.
“No one needs to embrace homosexuality to end bullying,” says Linda Harvey, President of the pro-family ministry Mission America, in an email dated April 11. Mission America publishes “Choice 4 Truth,” which covers just the issue of homosexuality and youth.
While the Day of Silence (DOS) website notes that students do not have the right to remain silent during instructional periods, some overzealous school administrators and teachers have turned a blind eye to the practice, encouraged it, and even participated.
Harvey denounces the Day of Silence as a left-wing political tactic.
“Rather than have students read and discuss the best writing from the best scholars on both sides of the debate, GLSEN calls for political protest and silence in schools,” she said.
“DOS believes the only way to reduce bullying is for all students and teachers to affirm homosexuality and “gender change” and for none to be allowed to question it,” Harvey added. “GLSEN holds that schools cannot be ‘safe’ as long as conservative views on the nature and morality of homosexuality are expressed or studied. The DOS/GLSEN calls for ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’ constitute empty rhetoric.”
Day of Silence Walk Out
Harvey is among many urging parents to help de-politicize schools by confirming whether or not their child’s high school or middle school is “endorsing” or “respecting” the national Day of Silence. If so, they are being urged to keep their children at home on Friday, April 15. You can find out more information at www.doswalkout.net
Day of Dialogue
In the past, the Alliance Defense Fund has sponsored the Day of Truth, aimed at equipping Christian students to share the truth about homosexuality with their peers. That event, held on the day after the Day of Silence, has now been taken on by Focus on the Family and renamed “Day of Dialogue.”
Scheduled for Monday, April 18, 2011, the Day of Dialogue is also meant to engage the culture.
“The Day of Dialogue gives you, as a student, the opportunity to express the true model presented by Jesus Christ in the Bible – who didn’t back away from speaking truth, but neither held back in pouring out His incredible, compassionate love for hurting and vulnerable people,” says the Day of Dialogue website. “His example calls us to stand up for those being harmed or bullied while offering the light of what God’s Word says.”
For more information on the Day of Dialogue, visit www.dayofdialogue.com.