STANDING UP FOR GAY
RIGHTS
DAY OF SILENCE
COUNTERED BY CHRISTIAN DAY OF TRUTH
By S.L. Wykes,
MercuryNews.com from the Web, April 27, 2006
Monte Emmer hoped fellow students and
teachers might ask him Wednesday why he and other students weren't talking in
class. But in an ironic twist, Monte, president of Palo Alto High School's
Gay Straight Alliance, knew he couldn't say anything.
Except in print.
He was one of hundreds of Bay Area students, and thousands nationwide, who
participated in the 10th annual Day of Silence, a demonstration designed to help
people understand that being a gay teenager can mean a life lived with many
words unspoken.
Even some teachers joined in, using dry boards and printed materials to conduct
their classes silently. "It's part of my job to open students' eyes, to
get them to ask questions," said Ken Plough, a Palo Alto High School
special-education teacher.
At Paly, the day was part of a week of events promoting tolerance organized by
the school's student council, its youth community service group and a wide range
of clubs representing African-American, Jewish, feminist and gay students.
For a while, the school's Christian Club was participating, but it dropped out.
In a posting on the school's student-run Web newspaper, one of the club's
co-presidents wrote that although the club supports the intentions of the
tolerance week, the group lacked "the input to properly communicate our specific
message."
"We thought that if we tried to participate, our message would become distorted
or misinterpreted with the general message; which is that homosexuality is OK."
The exchange of ideas at Paly mirrors what has become an evolving confrontation
between the silent-day event, organized by the national Gay Lesbian Straight
Education Network, and the Day of Truth, scheduled for today and supported by
the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based coalition of Christian churches.
This is the second year for the Day of Truth, and its organizers say 700 schools
are participants. The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network's count for
Day of Silence schools tops 4,000.
The Day of Truth is to be held in a handful of Bay Area schools, including Oak
Grove High School in San Jose and Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, both of
which also hosted a Day of Silence.
Live Oak became well-known in legal circles after six students filed a federal
lawsuit claiming they were harassed because of their sexuality. In
2004, the Morgan Hill district settled the suit with a $1.1 million payment and
an agreement to begin tolerance training for its teachers and students.
Several students joined the Day of Silence at Live Oak without incident, said
Tony Bontempi, the teacher adviser for the school's Gay Straight Alliance.
While the Day of Silence asks its participants not to talk, the Day of Truth has
no such requirement. Instead, students wear T-shirts with the Day of Truth
slogan and hand out cards saying they are "speaking the Truth to break the
silence."
The event was established, according to the ADF Web site, to "counter the
promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a
Christian perspective."
In an interview, ADF attorney Delia van Loenen said Christian students "have
been censored when they have tried to present their viewpoint. Our message
is about Christian love."
Nicole Munoz, Gay Straight Alliance president at Oak Grove, said she disagreed
with the Alliance Defense Fund's perception of the Day of Silence. "They
make it seem like we're trying to bring people into being gay," she said.
"It's not that. It's to end harassment. And it's not all for gays;
it's for everyone."
She said participation this year was greater than last year's -- about 70
students signed up, most to be "allies" of students who would be keeping quiet.
Principal Rich Frias said he had asked his staff to honor the request of the GSA
to participate in a Day of Silence. "We want to make the school as safe as
possible," so students understand that not everybody is us and to be tolerant of
different cultures and different choices and just different people."
At Palo Alto High, junior Brigid Hurd-Maloney was among those who stayed quiet
Wednesday, communicating when necessary with an information card explaining that
her deliberate silence reflected the silence caused by harassment, prejudice and
discrimination.
"We think we're so open in the Bay Area," said Brigid, president of the school's
Feminist Club. "I realized it's not that way at all. There's
definitely hostility" toward gay, bisexual and transgender students.
The Day of Silence, she said, "is not telling everyone to be quiet. It's
about standing up for something that's not getting a lot of notice."
(Emphasis Added.)
Contact S.L. Wykes at
swykes@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7599.
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