The morning, I woke up tired. Exhausted from staying up late. I talked to my Chinese pen pal for about 20 minutes and then had to race towards my bus stop. At the bus stop my friend said good morning, I had already written "day of silence" on my hand to show her what I was doing and she immediately understood. The ride was cold and long. I dozed as we travelled the length of the highway towards my school. I had gotten off and started my way down to the front lobby of my school. I hugged a couple of my friends and we wrote to each other on note pads and notebook paper. Then a friend of mine saw a sign. It was over a day of silence poster.
The sign had crude stick figure drawings and struck me with a feeling of shame because it wouldn't be notified to a teacher or administrator (later I found out one of my friends had torn it down.. I tore down a similar poster.) It had an arrogant message. It said: boy + girl = (checkmark); the same thing for the stick figures. My friend told me she had seen one that said "only real men like girls." We were penning each other back and forth I found out she had made a poster and immediately after she had put it up, a kid had torn it down and put up one of the bigotted ones in its place. She cursed him out even though she had taken her vow to stay silent. I saw another sign during my lunch break that saiwn and I'm glad I had. another friend of mine and I were fed up with it and decided to tell an authoritative person about it. He didn't do ad "God made adam and eve not adam and steve." I tore that one do damned thing. What sickened most about the one I had torn down was that it was obviously written by a girl, with hearts around adam and eve and in bold green lettering for the ss couple. It had a feminine style to the writing. I didn't think I'd see forms of bigotry like that and it shocked me.
Not many people tried to stop me from staying silent. those who did were only trying to see how long I would last, it seemed very childish. Almost selfish, but I couldn't care less for their endeavors because they had failed and I had won this "battle" of wills. Getting home and talking to an old friend of mine was kind of surprising for her reaction was really breathtaking as she typed that what I had done was all in vain. Trying constantly to link marriage and religion together, and altogether even ignoring my opinions. I like her opinions, but I can't say what she told me was justifiably correct, or the way she said it was sinc ere enough for me to handle. What struck me was that she is a lesbian and believes that marriage is a solely religious institution.
This day was a success in my opinion. I held my vigil and my undissolving faith that this movent we take part in, is moving forward towards legal recognition of our rights not only as citizens, but as respectable human beings within the United States. What I also realized is that I had came out to a couple more people than I thought would have happened.
~T
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Early reports are saying that yesterday's Day of Silence was a huge success despite the efforts of several religious right groups who advised parents to keep their children out of school during this day. This was the view from the Seattle Times which looked at the high school where area pastor Ken Hutcherson held an anti-Day of Silence protest last year:
No protesters disrupted classes at Mount Si High School, and about 21 percent of students called in absent Friday — more students than usual, but less than last year, when almost half of all students didn't come to school.
Mount Si was the focus last year of a protest over the "Day of Silence," a national movement to represent the silence many gay and lesbian students feel they must maintain at school to avoid harassment.
Again this year, Rev. Ken Hutcherson, of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, urged parents to keep students out of school Friday but did not hold a protest.
About 150 of the school's 1,400 students signed up to participate in the Day of Silence, spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm said, and there were no disruptions during the school day.
Nice try, Kenny boy but you lose again.
And there is a plethora of positive coverage from other areas in the country:
Teens speak volumes during Day of Silence
Students protest oppression during Day of Silence
Students stay mum to honor GLBT peers
March supports gay rights
Local students take a stand against harassment during national Day of Silence
ISU students ‘Break Silence’ in fight against prejudice
But those organizations who oppose the Day of Silence are not "going gentle into that good night," so to speak.
One group, Capitol Resource Institute, has put a video highlighting the alleged threats, "intolerance," and also other incidents of violence that it claims are indicative of Day of Silence supporters.
I looked at the video and listened to the comments, even the choppy ones.
Some of the comments are rude with one person saying that he wishes that members of the anti-Day of Silence groups would kill themselves (that's the one played repeatedly).
But these messages sound like they are coming from adults and not teenagers (the ones who mostly participate in the Day of Silence.)
The emails were equally rude, even though we don't know anything about these them - whether they are coming from folks mad at the anti-Day of Silence stance or folks mad at these groups in general.
Or even if they are authentic.
Capitol Resource Institute claimed that one email inferred a death threat even to the extent of sending a picture of a funeral to emphasize detail. But no where in the article does its spokesperson, Karen England, talk about alerting the authorities.
If someone sent me an email inferring a death threat by including a picture of a funeral, to hell with the media because I'm calling the police.
And let's talk about the acts of violence the video shows.
These "acts" took place from various Proposition 8 protests, including the Phyllis Burgess incident which was debunked on this site as well as many others.
Why is this important?
Because the Proposition 8 protests had absolutely nothing to do with the Day of Silence.
All in all, the video is a pathetic attempt to get a visceral reaction rather than a logical one.
That's not to say that I agree with what was allegedly sent to these groups. Rude comments and threats should not be the way we fight our battles.
But the attempt by Capitol Resource Institute to connect the dots between the Day of Silence and the alleged negativity expressed to the groups opposing the Day of Silence is highly, highly suspect.
It just goes to show that some people just can't take a loss.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This weekend's Bangor Daily News ran a story similar to the one I mentioned from yesterday's KJ and I noticed something very interesting:
Alvaro Zapata of California waves to motorists on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor on Sunday. Zapata and his fellow members of the Catholic-affiliated American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property played bag pipes and chanted slogans to the sounds of honking horns and few jeers from passers-by.
Nine men who identified themselves as members of a Pennsylvania-based group that supports traditional family values demonstrated Saturday afternoon near the Bangor Mall against a gay marriage bill currently being considered by the Maine Legislature.
Bearing red banners with gold lion insignias - some of the organization's emblems - the men from the Catholic-affiliated American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, or TFP, carried signs, chanted slogans and included a bagpiper playing over the sounds of traffic on busy Stillwater Avenue. The group travels to states where same-sex marriage legislation is being considered.
The bill, which is backed by more than 60 legislators, would repeal a state law that limits marriage to a man and a woman. If passed, it would authorize marriage between any two people and recognize same-sex marriage in other states where it is legal.
Some of the Pennsylvania group's signs read, "Honk for Traditional Marriage."
"We see the importance of traditional marriage to preserve the family," said Ben Hiegert, 28, who serves as the TFP's secretary-treasurer. "That's very important and fundamental to our society. When you put something that's not marriage as something on the same level as marriage, it weakens the whole idea of marriage."
Hiegert said reaction from the public in Maine to the group's message has been mostly positive.
"Overall it's been very, very favorable, especially once we get up to Augusta and here as well," Hiegert said. "We were really impressed. They were probably some of the most favorable cities we've done. There have been a lot of honks and a lot of people who have stopped and gotten out [of their cars]."
One group of Maine clergy members, the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, supports the bill.
"The point of marriage equality is to give everyone a place at the table, a chance to allow every child of God a means to be counted," said Rev. Mark Doty of Hammond Street Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Bangor and a member of the coalition in a recent BDN story. "As a pastor of couples in longtime partnered relationships I believe this bill will grant families new freedom and fairness."
The group, which spent about two hours in its location at the traffic light leading to the new Home Depot building,ilding, got both honks from supporters and hoots from dissenters who rolled down their vehicle windows. No one demonstrated in support of gay marriage in the vicinity.
Bangor was the last stop this week for the Hanover, Pa., group, which is made up partially of college students on spring vacation. The group was in Portland on Thursday and in Augusta on Friday. The men also made stops in New Hampshire cities Concord, Manchester and Nashua.
Hiegert, who is a full-time employee of TFP, said the organization has 60 full-time volunteers.
Well, that explains why they all look like Doug Neidelmeyer or Kent Dorfman Flounder...
Dean Vernon Wormer: Mr. Kroger: two C's, two D's and an F. That's a 1.2. Congratulations, Kroger. You're at the top of the Delta pledge class. Mr. Dorfman?
Flounder: Hello!
Dean Vernon Wormer: Zero point two... Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
The lawsuit was brought forward by the Transgender Law Center on behalf of Gigi Marie Somers, a 67-year-old Kansas resident seeking to change her documentation. Read the full story at the Advocate’s web site, or read the court’s decision.
Birth certificates are often relied upon as a primary documentation resource, used by employers, creditors and the government to verify individuals’ identities. Without the ability to change their birth certificate, many transpeople are left in legal limbo, and are frequently outed by their documentation, which may not maion, which may not match their gender presentation.
Birth certificate change procedures vary from state to state, and some states don't allow any alteration to the sex listed on this critical document. This increased ease in changing birth certificate will benefit California-born transpeople across the country. Congratulations to the Transgender Law Center on this fantastic victory!
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