How it started and how it impacts LGBTQ+ Youth today
The Day of Silence is a national awareness day in the month of April to spread awareness to LGBTQ+ students that are bullied and have no voice in schools across the nation. The Day of Silence was created by Maria Pulzetti in 1996.
Pulzetti was a student at the time and she wanted to raise awareness to her fellow students about the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Awareness Days. (BGLAD) She felt that panel discussions will only affected those that attended the discussions. Which meant that very few people knew about the bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ people.
The next year in 1997, the Day of Silence was spread nationwide and over 100 universities participated. The Day of Silence became an official GLSEN project in 2000. Eight years later in 2008, an 8th grader named Lawrence King was shot and killed by a classmate and the Day of Silence was held in memory of King that same year.
The Day of Silence is now observed across the world from Russia to Singapore.
The Day of Silence is observed by only using written forms of communication. This year, the Day of Silence is observed on April 12th, 2019. Since the Day of Silence is not observed in every school, students have to gain support from their school to observe it.
Students can observe in their free time and in the classroom but they have to speak if the teacher is asking them to speak.
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