Friday, April 25, 2008

Pride

Today is the National Day of Silence, a day dedicated to bringing attention to anti-LGBTQ harassment and bias. This year is dedicated to Lawrence King, a boy from Oxnard, CA who was murdered because of his sexual orientation.

The GSA at Mission has been promoting the Day of Silence and has posted flyers around the school telling people to wear pink today in support of the GSA Honestly, I didn't expect many of my kids to participate, and I even braced myself for teasing or harassment of those who did wear pink, including myself. And I didn't really expect many, if any, students to try the silence.

How this day is turning out has been a much more than pleasant surprise. One of my students walked in this morning, saw my pink shirt, and said, "Oh no! I forgot today is pink day!" In my other class, two kids came in dressed in pink--two who I definitely would not have expected--and three are participating in the Day of Silence. And they're really sticking to it, not to mention getting other kids to talk about why those students are silent. It's much more powerful than I imagined.

I can't even tell you how proud I am of these ninth graders taking a courageous stand (many of them as allies) in a school that I feel is still very homophobic. If they're this powerful at 15, I can't wait to see what they do next.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And to think that in some places teachers have been suspended for not talking. Bravo to Mission and to you and your students. Every small step makes a difference and leads to bigger steps.

Jen said...

I'm delighted to hear this. And I really think 15-year-olds could take over the world, given the proper motivation. It's a very high energy age (in a good way).

C just turned 15 last Wednesday, and he's close to 6 feet! ;-)

You know, you and your mom were the first non-family members to hold him.