Goebel Gone Global

Criticism of the Day of Silence

“The National Day of Silence is a day of action in which students across the country vow to take a form of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools.”

I remember back in high-school, once a year anti-abortion protesters would wear tape over their mouths to draw attention to the subject of their outrage. To me, this seemed like a bad idea: “Drawing attention to a subject is pointless if one cannot elaborate on the subject in order to draw your audience to the conclusion that you think is proper”. So, based on my line of reasoning, I took advantage of the day every year in order to bash on the pro-life movement. After all, none of them could say anything in response if they were going to stick to their protest. This seemed justified as a subtle way to point out my criticism of their protest. While I typically agree with the message of the Day of Silence protests going on today, I feel as though my criticism of the previously described anti-abortion protests also applies to them equally as well. I’d like those participating to reflect for a moment (and criticize me in turn if you disagree): what you’re fighting for is important. Can we afford to remain silent when attention is, in the moment, drawn to the issues that we find important? Should we take the opportunity to speak while the spotlight is fixed on the issues of harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools or allow those with opposing opinions to monopolize the spotlight and strengthen their side while waiting for the spotlight to flicker out and these issues to once again fade into obscurity?