Today is the National Day of Silence that is being done to bring attention to anti Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered (LGBT) name calling and bullying.  It is sponsored by The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Eduction Network (GLSEN) and is being done in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year old student who was shot and killed by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and expression.  Today, instead of speaking students and others will hand out cards with the following text imprinted on them:

“Silent for Lawrence King:
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 name-calling, bullying and harassment. This year’s DOS is held in memory of Lawrence King, a 15 year-old student who was killed in school because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. 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.”

I honestly don’t get it.  What is being silent about these wrongs going to accomplish?  Bullying, whether it be against a GLBT person or not, has been going on since before written records.  Alexander the Great was a bully, as was Genghis Kahn and of course the biggest bully of them all was Hitler.  Did silence stop them from doing what they were doing?  No.  In fact it can be argued that it was the silence that contributed to 12 Million people, 6 Million Jews, to perish during Hitler‘s Holocaust.  Hell, our own country being led by George W. Bush has been viewed as a bully in a little nation known as Iraq.

For a solid 9 years of my life in school, I was bullied.  I was the fat kid, the unpopular kid, the kid with glasses, and every name in the book was thrown at me.  Campaigns of humiliation were carried out against me.  I was ostracized from the social circles other kids partook in.  All of this happened because I was silent.

In my 10th year… as a sophmore in high school… all the pressure from those years built up… and I fucking snapped.  I was silent no longer.  By making my voice heard, things changed.  I was no longer the target of humiliation.  I was called by my proper name or by a nickname I approved of.  I socialized like a normal person at parties, dances, and nights out at the movies.  By making myself heard I had gained a “normality” in my life that had been absent.  Towards the end of that sophmore year I realized something else… I had become drunken off my social acceptance and to a certain degree had become a bully myself.

By junior year… I had found a balance between having my voice heard and imposing my will upon others.  This was not an easy thing to recognize… but once I did it became an easy thing to do.  What made me realize my flip to the dark side?  Chris Schultz.  He was a friend of mine with an Elvis like hairdo who told me what kind of a person I had become, and helped me realize the errors of my ways.  He did not remain quiet.  He made his voice heard, and it made a difference.

Of course, you also need to be willing to listen in order to hear the voices.  I think that’s really where the problem lies… people are not willing to listen.  If people are not willing to listen, then how does being silent change that?  They’re not going to hear you one way or the other.

Karen has it right, in my opinion.  Bullying is part of a gang mentality.  It’s not a GLBT only epidemic.  It’s happening to anyone who does not fulfill the perception of “normal”.  How do we solve this?  We should listen.  If the victims of bullying speak up, and we listen, then half the battle is already won.  The other half is that we need to be vocal about what the victims of bullying are saying… which in the end… usually amounts to a plea for tolerance for those that are different.

Tolerance… that is where we are at our weakest.  That is what we need to strengthen.  That cannot be achieved through silence.

If you need help with a situation, check out McGruff’s Tips For Handling A Bully.  Most important of all… don’t remain silent.

For those of you who have chosen to remain silent today… I can understand and respect that as your choice and how you feel the problem is best addressed.  I would however like you to make yourself heard once the silence is over…