Day of Silence

By: Percy Okoben

The Day of Silence was started in the 1990s by two college students as a way to show solidarity with LGBT individuals who felt silenced by the greater non-LGBT community. It has grown to have thousands of participants nationwide every year. I have made a point to participate in it every year that I have known about it, including this year. But this year was different. This year I paid attention; not only to my own silence, but the lack of silence from others. And I was disappointed.

When you’re not allowed to talk, your thoughts become more active. I think this has something to do with the lack of generating words for others and instead, a generation of thoughts for oneself. And my thoughts made me realize that I don’t talk a lot. That day was only an extension of my own silence. What is the point of silencing the silenced? Wouldn’t it be more effective if the zedsexual/romantic cisgender straight people would be silenced for one day? Then they would realize just how frustrating it is for LGBTQ+ folks to be silenced every single day in a society that still, the majority of the time, views their very existence as immoral. But, alas, like most of my ideas, it would be very hard to accomplish. But maybe that is the point.

Sometimes things are hard and you do them anyway because it is the brave thing to do. Then there are the lazy, the cowardly, and the ignorant. I mean no offense to anyone who couldn’t complete the day of silence. But I absolutely mean offense to anyone who could have completed the day of silence and didn’t. For example, in homeroom, there was a girl who said she would complete the day of silence, but she thought it would be hard. THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT! It’s not easy to be silenced. I know, because I and millions of others are silenced every single day. Then there was another girl in my English class. She is an adamant feminist and very outspoken and I thought it would be really powerful if she completed the day of silence to show what a difference one person’s silence can make. She didn’t complete the day of silence. Shocker. I don’t know why she didn’t do it. Maybe she thought it would be hard. Maybe she was scared. Maybe she just doesn’t care about LGBTQ+ individuals. In any case, any shred of respect I had for her is gone. Poof.

If you are able, you should complete the day of silence. I learned a lot about myself when I completed it this year and I think that any non-LGBTQ+ person could learn even more than I did. Don’t be like the girls in my homeroom and English class. Be brave.