Students supporting the National Queer Day of Action took a stand for their voices on Wednesday without speaking a word.
Workers in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Alliance office supplied black bandanas, rainbow stickers and cards all day advocating their cause in support of the of the National LGBT Day of Silence. The day-long vow of silence is designed to symbolize their oppression in society.
This is the project’s first year at the University.
“It’s really important to get it going,” LGBTQA Publicity Coordinator Cat McGraw said.
Participant Jo Humphreys stuck to the vow of silence for the day, writing about personal experiences and involvement in the project.
“Being transgender, I definitely have a lot of fear and hear about people in similar situations getting beat and killed all the time. A chance to bring focus onto that is a good thing,” Humphreys wrote.
University representatives joined more than 300 schools across the country participating in the day of action. According to the project’s Web site, www.dayofsilence.org, the the Day of Silence Project was founded in 1996 at the University of Virginia to raise awareness.
By 1 p.m., only 10 to 15 students participated, LGBTQA Co-Director Maddy Melton said. The LGBTQA aimed at a larger scale but did not want to interfere with International Week activities.
“We initially wanted the event to be bigger,” Melton said. “However, we wanted to respect the fact (the International Student Association) had previously planned events this week.”
According to the Web site, the Day of Silence is the brainchild of Maria Pulzetti, who in 1996 wrote a school paper about nonviolent protests with a grassroots approach. After the first turnout boasted 150 participants, Pulzetti joined forces with Jessie Gilliam to push the project to the national level.
During Wednesday’s Day of Silence, the LGBTQA sent out silent students with two speaking allies to ask people to fill out written assessments about gender and silencing. They are also recruiting input from campus cultural groups about how their members are quieted in the hopes of opening up lines of communication within the University community.
“It’s important for all people to feel comfortable at the University,” Multicultural Center representative Eddy Morales said. Morales was handing out the assessments to passers-by in the EMU Amphitheater.
The day’s events concluded with a “Break the Silence” rally at South Eugene High School.