Youth: A Hush Fell Over the Halls of McDowell High School on April 26

by Michael R. Komo

On Wednesday, April 26, over 250 students at McDowell High School took a vow of silence. These students were participating in the National Day of Silence. The individuals who partook in this event were silent from the beginning of the school day until the end of the school day.

The Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in collaboration with the United States Student Association (USSA), is a student-led day of action where those who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment — in effect, the silencing — experienced by LGBT students and their allies.

I, along with a few other students, organized the event at McDowell. My original goal was to get 200 students registered for it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that over 250 individuals (grades nine through twelve) signed up for the Day of Silence. My goal for 2007 is to get 300 students registered for the event.

There were many students who support LGBT rights but chose not to participate in the event. Some had scheduled presentations that they could not reschedule. Others had to teach lessons at elementary schools that day. However, they gave their full support for those of us who did participate.

The event was quite a success. For the most part, the students not participating respected those individuals who were. Teachers and faculty members commended our efforts. There was minimal opposition to this event, as there is with many things. However, doing the right thing is not always easy. We kept that in mind and held our heads high that day.