Day of Dialogue vs. Day of Silence
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, April 13, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
The Day of Silence was founded in 1996 at the University of Virginia to promote alternate lifestyles in colleges. A year later, almost 100 colleges and universities participated and by 2008 over 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities were registered as participants. The Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network that sponsors the event provides for registration on the Internet.
Sixteen years ago, the day of silence was observed on April 10th in 15 Georgia high schools and five colleges – Georgia Tech, Spelman, West Georgia State University, the University of Georgia and Wesleyan College. No doubt, those numbers have increased dramatically. The goal of the observance is to squelch all opposition to homosexuality, bisexuality and other lifestyles.
Calls to several Georgia schools that year revealed that some knew and approved of the observance; others said students had listed their schools; East Paulding High was on spring break; Rabun Gap Nacoochee alerted teachers that students might participate; and Villa Rica tried to remove the school name from the list, but couldn’t. Continue reading