Sometimes, silence is louder than words — especially when you are in your 20s and have every vessel of communication imaginable at your disposal. However, this is not one of those times.
Hannah Shirley | Argonaut
Members of the LGBTQA community are frequently silenced in the Idaho Legislature, the media and day-to-day life. The oppression they face is unjust, real and, thankfully, lessening with each passing election cycle. This is partially due to protests such as Day of Silence.
It’s a straightforward protest — for one Friday in April, LGBTQA activists aim to bring awareness to the silencing of gays and lesbians by taking upon themselves their own vow of silence.
Unfortunately, while well intended, silence for the silent is a fundamentally flawed concept. It’s without a doubt an attention-getter in the short term, but faulty. At the end of the day, no one ever changed anything by remaining silent.
That said, the Day of Silence has its merits.
While it often encompasses universal LGBTQA rights issues, the protest emphasizes the bullying and discrimination of teenage victims. Since those in the workforce are often unable to partake in a day of silence due to professional obligations, it’s the middle and high school demographic that make up the majority of the participants. For these budding activists, the Day of Silence is perfect.
Pre-teen and teenaged victims who are still coming to terms with the complexities of their sexualities and larger social and political trends can’t be expected to know how to make a splash on the civil rights scene.
The Day of Silence is simple, powerful and relatively easy to execute for the duration of a typical eight-to-three school day. It’s an opportunity for younger activists to get their feet wet, and to find strength in numbers.
As college students and adults, though, only showing your support of LGBTQA rights on April 11 makes you the Christmas and Easter Christian of the gay world.
With our knowledge and ability to make a difference, a Day of Silence is inefficient, and should be a supplemental protest at best. Instead of taking a vow of silence, commit to making noise for LGBTQA rights. Write to your congressman. Put all that time on Twitter to good use, and start a social media movement. Host an event on campus that allows questions and fosters an openness that is unintentionally alienated in silence.
Silence has its place. Take a moment of it now. Remember those who have been lost or irrevocably harmed. Those who have been terrorized, and those who have had to lie or hide to avoid it. Those who have lost their faith, their family, or their friends — take a moment, then raise your voice. We have been silent for far too long.
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected]