Students to Break the Silence in TN Amphitheater

Students are going to break the silence at the Knoxville TN Amphitheater on April 17. A few videos were created to promote this event. Check out the first here created by Brandon Lee. 

"Today I will NOT Speak"

BooMarie, came up with another awesome video to promote the Break the Silence event on April 17 at 5:30pm at the Knoxville, TN Amphitheater. Check it out!

Making it up for the Day of Silence

Here's a idea from a student who plans to use her artistic skills:

"This year for day of silence, I'll be making a small card stating why I'm staying silent, and since I'm pretty good at the stage makeup, I'm going to make it look like my mouth is sewn shut with some black thread... or maybe make it look like I zipped my mouth shut... Not sure yet, still in the experimenting stage for those materials. I'm thinking of making a small pamphlet with information about LGBT rights."

Adrianne S.

BLOG STORY: Day of Silence stories from the Internet.

Wisconsin HS Stomps Out the Silence

A high school in Wauwatosa, WI has found a creative way to participate in this year's Day of Silence:

The Wauwatosa West High School Gay Straight Alliance will be holding a Stomp Out the Silence Day on Wednesday, April 8.

Stomp Out the Silence is the school's way of participating in the National Day of Silence, a national youth movement started by a group of students to show others that people who are different cannot really be themselves or express themselves...

West High School's step team will be performing at the end of the day as a way to show they are "stomping" out the silence.

What type of creative events are you planning for this year's Day of Silence? Dancing? Singing? Modeling? Let us know, in the comments section below...

• 'Stomp' coincides with national event (Wauwatosa Now)
  

Second GSA Looks Back on 20 Years of Work

The second GSA* in the country, located at Phillips Academy (alma mater of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush), recently celebrated 20 years of existence. To honor those 20 years of organizing and advocacy work the school had an interscholastic all-day conference discussing contemporary LGBT topics. 

“It is so rare to find an occasion in which so many young leaders come together to share ideas and experiences. It’s a privilege to build upon our progress within the gay rights movement and to honor those who led the way before us. A lot of progress has been made during our 20 years of operation, but it is our duty as future representatives of the movement to expand upon this transition toward a more open, unified world.” -GSA leaders Liz Brown ’09 and Alina Pechacek ’09

*The first GSA was started by GLSEN Founder Kevin Jennings in 1988 at Concord Academy in Massachusetts. 

• Phillips Academy GSA: 20 Years of Friendship and Activism (Mombian: Sustenance for Lesbian Moms)
  

Do you know about ThinkB4YouSpeak?

Here's a message we just received:

"So I was watching ABC Family this past weekend and one of your commercials was aired. I just caught the end of it but I know that it had Hillary Duff in it and was a discussion about the use of the word "gay" in the pejorative. I thought to myself. "YES!!!" We are on our way.

Keep up the AMAZING work. We are watching."

a 26-year old southern gay
adam b.

If you don't know what adam b is talking about, check out ThinkB4YouSpeak.com!

What RU Doing 4 DOS this Yr?

What are you and your friends doing for the Day of Silence? Did you participate last year? How did your school’s administration react? Did you hold a "Breaking the Silence" event? How did you celebrate it?

We want to know what you and your GSA are doing. Your stories can help other students. We’ll take the best of the bunch and post them to the blog so that others will benefit from your experience.

NOTE: You can tell us the whole story, but we will take care not to identify you, your school or any individuals by name.)

Send your stories to: bkerr@glsen.org. Make sure "BLOG Story" is in the subject line of your message.

8,000 Schools: Was Yours Counted?

Last year students from nearly 8,000 middle and high schools, a record-breaking number, participated in the Day of Silence. Wow—that’s amazing! How do we know? Because students registered their DOS observance at our sister site: StudentOrganizing.org.

This year, we need YOU and ALL your friends to register too.

Sure, we know it takes a few minutes, but don’t miss the point: we need to know how many people participate in the Day of Silence to help promote the huge positive impact the event makes in schools across country. By registering, you are helping us prove that this is an important issue that needs to be addressed. So we need each and every participant to register!

As of today we know there are over 2,500 schools where a Day of Silence will be held on April 17th.

Remember: Don’t just participate, REGISTER!

Not only will you be counted, GLSEN will mail you stickers and speaking cards that you can use on the Day of Silence. It’s just one way we say, “Thanks!”