It's time for an honest conversation about homosexuality.
A card carried by participants in the Day of Truth reads: "true tolerance means that people with differing-even opposing-viewpoints can freely exchange ideas and respectfully listen to each other. "Events like these actually end up promoting homosexuality in public schools, and that actually creates a hostile climate for students of faith," said Candi Cushman, an education analyst for Focus on the Family. In 2005, the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been labelled as an anti-LGBT hate group, began sponsoring a yearly counter-protest called the Day of Truth. as well as students from around the world, including New Zealand, Singapore, and Russia. They include students from all 50 states in the U.S.A. These participants attend middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. In the last several years, over 10,000 participants have registered their participation with GLSEN each year. Green Middle School who was shot by classmate Brandon McInerney. In 2008, the Day of Silence was held in memory of Lawrence "Larry" King, an eighth grader from E.O. GLSEN developed its first-ever "student leadership team" as part of the Day of Silence. In 2002, Pulzetti's classmates Jessie Gilliam and Chloe Palenchar, and GLSEN National Student Organizer Chris Tuttle, developed the proposal for the day to become an official project of GLSEN.
In 1997, Day of Silence went national, with almost 100 colleges and universities participating. Pulzetti explained: "I wanted to do something for BGLAD week that would impact many people at the school and that would be very visible.I knew that if we held panel discussions and events like that, the only people who would come would be the people who already were fairly aware."
History Ĭreated by then-students Maria Pulzetti and Jessie Gilliam, the first event was organized by students at University of Virginia in 1996. GLSEN states that hundreds of thousands of students at more than 8,000 schools participated in the 2008 Day of Silence. Students are encouraged to obtain permission from their school before organizing the event. The Day of Silence is organized by the GLSEN.