LGBT-Straight Alliance celebrates 2015 Day of Silence

The Day of Silence is an event held in commemoration of the members of the LGBT community that have been forced to keep silent, hiding their identities to escape bullying and harassment. During the Day of Silence, held each year in April since 1996, students take a vow of silence to remember and to offer their support to the LGBT movement.

This year, the Day of Silence was held on April 17. JCU LGBT-Straight Alliance celebrated the event on April 16 to allow participation of the entire student body during the weekday. On Wednesday night, the Alliance kicked off the 2015 Day of Silence with a Breaking the Silence event in the Tiber Cafe. LGBT and straight students enjoyed Roman pizza while dancing and playing games together in a welcoming environment, supporting the Alliance and making new friends.

On Thursday, students who took a vow of silence could pick up a badge that excused them from not talking in class briefly explaining the reason. Other students who could not take a vow of silence were able to show their support by wearing a colorful ribbon pinned to their shirts throughout the day.

The Day of Silence was established to reach out to the broader student body by a student of Virginia University. The student felt that more panels and closed discussions were only going to attract people already aware of the issues that members of the LGBT community are often forced to face. Hence, during this day the LGBT movement and supporters come together to spread awareness in order to make anti-LGBT harassment unacceptable in American schools.