This is about a month late, but I feel like it needs to be said.
“Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling, and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today.”
On Friday April 15, I took part for the first time in the Day of Silence. Upon my arrival at school, I picked up this speaking card and for the rest of the day, I was silent.
I am not okay with the level of harassment that there is towards other people who are different from our selves. Their differences and our own differences don’t make us bad people, it’s just the way we are. There’s no way that we can change it and there’s no reason we should ask other people to change themselves to suit our needs and purposes.
I’ve heard of people attempting to back up their reasoning using the Bible. That’s all well and dandy, but I’m wondering, what happened to ‘love your neighbor’? Does that mean that just because my neighbor is gay that I should stop loving or caring about them? At least for me, that doesn’t make any sense for things to work like that. I’m not gay or lesbian, but I know people and I have friends who are. My silence is for them. I don’t want them to be harassed by the thoughtless comments that are spewed into the world daily. I don’t want them to feel like they can’t tell or talk to anyone about what they’re going through. I want them to feel safe in any environment that they enter. No one deserves that no matter what their situation is. That’s why I participated in this Day of Silence.
I'm disabling comments for this post. I just want to avoid confrontation because my beliefs can't be changed.
--Jude
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