![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Silencing the Day of Silence
Apr. 17th, 2012 12:13 pmThe zealots at the Family Research Council (and other like-closeminded groups) want to ban students from participating in April 20th's Day of Silence. No surprise there, though I've seen comments suggesting that attempting to ban silence is akin to trying to halt the tide. How do you prevent a kid from just keeping his mouth shut? How do you know a group of kids sitting quietly at lunch are participating as opposed to simply being a bunch of quiet kids (unusual, but not so rare as to be unheard of)?
Of course, the banning would be on attempts to organize the Day of Silence, or to be visibly participating (wearing black tee shirts, rainbow pins or taping your mouth shut). Those kids would be singled out for whatever punishment the bigots think appropriate. That's assuming the FRC are successful, which they might be in the short term. Long term the ACLU will sue the school board into oblivion. Such an outcome might work to the FRC's favor - they get to claim martyrdom while leaving someone else to pay the legal bills.
What I find interesting about this is that now it's no longer sufficient to simply counter-protest (which they have done for the last few years, and is their right). Mere silent disapproval is now seen as offensive by the religious bigots of the world, something minority religions and of course, LGBT-folk have known for awhile (and recently atheists - when a billboard stating simply Atheists - and nothing else - was not allowed as it was offensive). It's not enough that you keep your disagreement silent - only active vocal agreement with them is sufficient.
Remember that the next time they bitch about bans on state-sanctioned school prayer. When they tell you that students don't have to participate with teacher-led prayer, they're lying - participation will be enforced officially through the school hierarchy, or unofficially through peer-pressure and harassment. They don't want to get rid of bullying, they want to use it to enforce their societal norms.
LGBT folk and their supporters: Keep up the good fight and don't let the zealots get you down. It's not about their religious freedom, it's about your right to exist.
Of course, the banning would be on attempts to organize the Day of Silence, or to be visibly participating (wearing black tee shirts, rainbow pins or taping your mouth shut). Those kids would be singled out for whatever punishment the bigots think appropriate. That's assuming the FRC are successful, which they might be in the short term. Long term the ACLU will sue the school board into oblivion. Such an outcome might work to the FRC's favor - they get to claim martyrdom while leaving someone else to pay the legal bills.
What I find interesting about this is that now it's no longer sufficient to simply counter-protest (which they have done for the last few years, and is their right). Mere silent disapproval is now seen as offensive by the religious bigots of the world, something minority religions and of course, LGBT-folk have known for awhile (and recently atheists - when a billboard stating simply Atheists - and nothing else - was not allowed as it was offensive). It's not enough that you keep your disagreement silent - only active vocal agreement with them is sufficient.
Remember that the next time they bitch about bans on state-sanctioned school prayer. When they tell you that students don't have to participate with teacher-led prayer, they're lying - participation will be enforced officially through the school hierarchy, or unofficially through peer-pressure and harassment. They don't want to get rid of bullying, they want to use it to enforce their societal norms.
LGBT folk and their supporters: Keep up the good fight and don't let the zealots get you down. It's not about their religious freedom, it's about your right to exist.
