Lawrence King was a 15-year-old student from Oxnard, California, who was shot and killed in class on February 12 by a 14-year-old classmate because of King’s sexual orientation and gender expression. The hate crime received little media attention but has served as a rallying cry for the need to address anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment.
In past years, more than 500,000 students at nearly 4,000 K-12 schools, colleges and universities organized Day of Silence events.
GLSEN(Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)’s 2005 National School Climate Survey found that 4 out of 5 LGBT students report verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school and more than 30% report missing at least a day of school in the past month out of fear for their personal safety. The Day of Silence helps bring us closer to making anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and name-calling unacceptable in America’s schools.
According to the FBI in 2004, homosexuality was the leading cause of hate crimes in the United States. Second ranking was race, followed by religion.
This is a serious issue and the Day Of Silence is a way of bringing recognition to the population.
So, join me in making standing up for what is right.
I will be staying silent all of Friday. Please respect my wishes in my doing this. Together, we can stop all the name-calling.
-I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday.
-I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
-I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
-We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
-I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.
-I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.
-I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.
-We are the couple who had the Realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.
-I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.
-I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.
-I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.
-I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn't have to always deal with society hating me.
-I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
-I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.
-I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I'm a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them.
-I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to "teach me a lesson"
