 |
|
|
|
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Freshman Liz Caillouette participates in the Gay-Straight Alliance's day of silence at Los Gatos High School. Participants stayed silent throughout the day to protest the discrimination faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.
|
On day of silence, message of students was very clear
By Rebecca Ray
Thirty-five students clad in black ate lunch together on the front lawn of Los Gatos High School (LGHS), holding colorful balloons and not saying a word. One of them would stand at a table, passing out stickers that read, "ally," and handing out cards that explained the group's silence.
The students, some of whom were members of the school's chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Network, held a day of silence to protest the discrimination faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.
Students at high schools, colleges and universities nationwide supported the day of silence on April 10. Although the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and United States Student Association sponsor the annual Day of Silence event, the students who participate in it choose how they want to participate.
The LGHS chapter held its day of silence on April 18, because April 10 was during the school's spring break.
As when LGHS GSA held a day of silence for the first time last year, they faced criticism.
At the April 16 district board meeting, Ted Kucklick, director of Parents for Quality and Integrity in Teaching (PQUIT) and a former LGHS parent, said that GLSEN advocates "enforced acceptance." He said he objected to the Day of Silence participants at LGHS using the school day "to enforce their opinions on others."
Kucklick said, "What if all the clubs in the school asked for their own special days? The purpose of a school is not to provide every special-interest group with a political platform," he said.
Kucklick added that he wanted Los Gatos schools to remain excellent. With the strong emphasis on academics, he said, "schools cannot afford to lose instructional time. It puts all students at a disadvantage."
Kucklick said he would object if any other group held the same kind of protest.
Three other adults voiced similar opinions at the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees meeting. One of them was Larry Bickford, a software engineer from San Jose, who heard about the day of silence from a friend.
Bickford said there was plenty of "non-silence," with talk show host Rosie O'Donnell "coming out" and media attention toward anti-gay hate crimes such as the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. The real silence, Bickford said, is how students are being "brainwashed by a particular agenda." He said that students didn't hear the weaknesses of the GSA's viewpoint or the strengths of the opposing viewpoint and that the opponents' views would be "shut down." He likened this to "a subtle form of bullying."
When asked his opinion on homosexuality, Bickford, who said he had researched the subject, said that homosexuality seemed more a psychological development than a biological condition.
Senior Valerie Wingfield, co-president of the GSA at LGHS, said the club wasn't soliciting or receiving funds from the school or national organizations.
To ensure that the protest didn't affect the educational environment, Wingfield said, the GSA sent teachers letters that explained the day of silence, and students who wanted to participate asked teachers to sign permission slips beforehand.
Trudy McCulloch, LGHS principal, said that the protest "in no way" distracted students from their classes the year before.
Senior Tyler Wilson agreed. "I think if they want to unite and feel like they have support, that's fine," he said. "It's like the baseball team or something. It's just a group of people. I think adults like to overreact."
"It's only a day that they're not talking," said senior Brit Karhoff, who wore an "ally" sticker. She added that it was a "pretty passive form of protest."
Sophomore Halley Nelson agreed that the protest didn't disrupt her education. However, she said, she saw the students as promoting having sex, which she thought was inappropriate, since most LGHS students are not legally adults.
While some participants said they felt that the student body supported them overall, others said that students popped their balloons, made negative comments and tore up their stickers. One participant said that in three of her classes, other students called her derogatory names.
However, Wingfield said the environment at the school was better than before. When the club started last year, people handed back their notices with swastikas and religious messages written on them, which didn't happen this year. Wingfield added that the school administration has been supportive and "hasn't fought them at all."
A couple of participants said that their teachers talked about the day of silence in their classes.
The LGHS GSA held a "breaking the silence" ceremony after school, which the club didn't do last year. Participants in the day of silence popped their balloons to symbolize "breaking the silence" before sharing their feelings on discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, as well as the protest itself.
"That was really hard, to completely silence yourself for over seven hours," junior and participant Io Berreitter said. "It really gives you a feeling of being alone, which is what I'm sure a lot of those people are feeling most of their lives."
"It's really painful to have to be silent for so long," junior and co-president Katalyn Ford said. "But it's really hard not to be, too."
A few students who did not participate in the day of silence expressed their support. One of them shared how several students in one of her classes asked for "ally" stickers once she explained what the day of silence was about.
Senior and GSA co-president Chelsea Collonge invited people who opposed the GSA's message to express their views, as well. She said that the day of silence participants would support them, even if they disagreed.
"We don't want anyone to be silenced," Collonge said.
One student spoke. She said the protest only augmented preexisting resentment toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, which was hypocritical. "The only way to true equality is to ignore differences like this," she said.
|
|
|
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
