Day of Silence at UHS

The 14^th annual Day of Silence will be held on the April 14, 2010. It is a student- led effort to call attention to the harassment and name calling of LGBT students in schools across the country. Both students on the University of Illinois campus and at Urbana High School have taken part in the event in years past, just as they are expected to this year.

In 1996, the first Day of Silence was held at the University of Virginia with over 150 students participating. Hundreds of thousands of students at more than 8,000 schools participated in 2008.

Many students take part in the event as a way to commemorate violence towards citizens LGBT community, especially the deaths of Matthew Shepard and Lawrence King. This year students will participate in order to remember Carl Walker- Hoover. He committed suicide just over a year ago because of the bullying he faced, and would have turned 12 on the Day of Silence.

“I cannot stand knowing that a giant part of the population wakes up everyday and feels like an outcast,” says Junior Annie Valocchi, who is the co- president of GSA (Gay- Straight Allience) along with Junior Katie Heinricher. “They go to school and work and hear degrading comments and outright hate. They try to express their love for another person, which is what we need most in the world right now, and they endure funny glances and uncomfortable circumstance that place them in perpetual unhappiness.”

If you are interested in participating in the event, dayofsilence.org suggests that you talk to your teachers ahead of time and make a card explaining the reason you aren’t talking. This is helpful so that your teacher knows what is going on ahead of time and there are no conflicts on the actual day.

Although UHS’s GSA works to promote awareness of the event, you do not need to be a member for GSA to take part in the event. “Day of Silence is for any student who wants to show their support of a word where acceptance reigns supreme,” says Valocchi.

Taking the vow of silence is not the only way to show your support. GSA will be giving out hearts for people to sign. There will also be a die-in held at the corner of Wright and Green sponsored by ECISSA (The East Central Illinois Safe School’s Alliance).

If you decide to participate in the event, you can sign up at dayofsilence.org. By signing up GLSEN and dayofsilence.org are able know the number of people that participated and can help those participating be organized for the day.

“This is our generation’s issue,” Valocchi says. “We have an amazing chance to end the bigotry and intolerance and give birth to a new generation where love is not placed in a box but cherished in all forms. The Day of Silence also shows students that they have the power to take action. It literally gives them a goal: End the silence that keeps LGBTQ students in a cage of discrimination.”