Every year the Gay, Lesbian, Straight network takes over our local high school in the form of the 'Day of Silence' protest. Students who wish to show solidarity remain silent all day to symbolize how gay people have had to be silent for so long.
What bothers me about this event is the support, announcements and complete involvement of the school staff and administration. In past years teachers even participated, writing the assignment on the whiteboard and refusing to speak to students. Now the administration has instructed teachers that they must still teach, but the students are still bombarded with propaganda from the national GLSN group that is supporting the school GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) club. There is a lot of tension between students. Often those who don't participate are called bigots and haters.
We are told that this event has nothing to do with the seperation of church and state, etc.
My Feelings... If students want to come in and be silent then that's their choice but when the school prominently supports it with announcements and it becomes the topic of every class discussion I am strongly opposed to the disruption.
The LDS students in our area will often make plans to wear their Sunday best to school when they have a temple trip that night, or, for example, many did the day after our prophet Gordon B. Hinkley passed away. This was a private show of support among themselves. They did not have their beliefs broadcast over the intercom or church history or the meaning of temples taught in every class.
The acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle is the acceptance of sin, iniquity, and the moral destruction of society. Our children have to wallow in this filth yet a Christian prayer group at school has to go outside of the school to the flagpole to pray- even in the rain, every morning (the LDS kids are at seminary during this time).
Somehow the school board doesn't see the relationship, because of course, sexuality has nothing to do with religion.
Despite the innundation, many of the local religious and conservative children have grown stronger. The uproar last year (beginning when the Gay and Lesbian group tried to hijack Martin Luther King day) led to the founding of a local Student Conservative Club. Students have also honed their skills in sharing their beliefs and religion.
Last year about a third of the students stayed home on the Day of Silence. The school administration should not be supporting this protest, and as long as they do I will give my children the option of staying away.
