The Connection

Issue date: 4/16/09 Section: News

The campus was quieter than usual April 15 when students participated in the annual "Day of Silence" in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

Students wore placards around their necks during the day explaining that they were deliberately silent to bring attention to the silence caused by anti-LGBT bullying and harassment.

"Think about the voices you are not hearing today," the card read.

Organizers said they wanted to send a message with the event.

"We wanted to make it clear that the culture here was one of openness," said music professor Steven Coughran, who helped organize and lead the event.

He said last year's Day of Silence had been too silent, and nothing was happening with it that anyone knew about. And this year, he said a negative reaction to the event only made it more clear why the event needed to happen.

"Maybe it was out of judgment, and a little fear, maybe ignorance," he said. "It gave me pause, that that kind of closemindedness is allowed to thrive."

Krithal Cruz, an 18-year-old business major, sung at the ceremony and said she had experienced some negative attitudes towards LGBT students and the event.

"You can hear under their voice, 'oh that person's gay,'" she said. In high school, she said, she participated in the event despite being told not to during class.

At 2 p.m., a "breaking the silence" ceremony was held where music was played and one student, Ariel Pagan, an 18-year-old human services major, read her poem, titled "Out of the Closet".

"I was scared and ashamed but really I shouldn't be blamed," she read.

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