The Day The Bullies Get Yanked Out Of School: This Friday's Day Of Silence May Have Unexpected Results

A holiday for bullies is a holiday from bullies! Thank you FRC!

Look, bullying should not be taking place in our schools, every child in America should be able to go to school—public school, private school, wherever—without the fear of threat or being intimidated, regardless of what the cause is, whether they’re overweight, whether their religious viewpoints, no child should be bullied because they are effeminate or because of their sexual orientation or whatever, it shouldn’t happen, but we cannot allow these programs like the Day of Silence to come into our schools as a cover for the promotion of homosexuality.

- Tony Perkins, Family Research Council

"You're going to hell!" has always been a favorite slogan of bullies, especially ones with a Christian Right upbringing. Places like Tennessee have addressed the problem of bullying by actually passing "pro-bullying" legislation designed to allow kids to be bullied, if the bully states it's on religious grounds and he or she is simply expressing their religious beliefs.

Each year, to counteract bullying in schools, GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network) encourages students in schools to have a Day of Silence in solidarity with those students who have been bullied because they are gay (or have been perceived to be gay). And each year, proponents of the Christian Right scream that it is simply a tool of indoctrination into the "gay lifestyle."

Each year, more and more students have been participating in the Day Of Silence, much to the consternation of people like Tony Perkins (Family Research Council - FRC), Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association and Linda Harvey of Mission America. Two years ago, Tony Perkins was prompted to counteract the DofS with a "Day Of Dialogue."

It fell flat.

Probably because the "dialogue" Perkins insisted on was rather one-sided: just tell your teacher that you think you might be gay and go to the counselor who will hopefully pray the gay away. End of "dialogue."

This year, the strategy has taken a page from National Organization for Marriage's playbook: boycott. Hell, that "liberal" school is just as bad as Starbucks, so don't patronize it: this is, after all, a shameful indoctrination on the part of the school, so, just yank your kid out for the day in protest! The problem with this strategy is that it is bolstered with lies and misconceptions:


Pastor Looomer of a Connecticut school board talking to Tony Perkins:

At past events, GLSEN was caught distributing pamphlets that promote everything from child sex to pornography. “If parents [knew] the inappropriateness of the materials, they’d be enraged,”

Uh, there's a problem here: GLSEN has never distributed any such pamphlets. Total fabrication.

Another anti-gay, anti-GLSEN piece of reasoning comes from Mission America's Linda Harvey:

-The Day of Silence encourages students to nurture prejudiced, hostile and bigoted attitudes against Christians and others with traditional moral beliefs, and to spread inaccurate and harmful information.

Hmm... the "inaccurate and harmful information" being that homophobia (and bullying) is fueled by demonizers? The disingenuous ramblings of Tony Perkins in his above statement are hollow because neither Mr. Perkins nor the Christian Right have ever been that inclusive in anything. Perkins, in fact, only takes a back seat to Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association when it comes to demonizing and singling out gays for special ostracism:

On this day, thousands of public high schools and increasing numbers of middle schools will allow students to remain silent throughout an entire day... to promote GLSEN's socio-political goals and its controversial, unproven, and destructive theories on the nature and morality of homosexuality.

Parents must actively oppose this hijacking of the classroom for political purposes. Pleasejoin the national effort to restore to public education a proper understanding of the role of government-subsidized schools. You can help de-politicize the learning environment by calling your child out of school if your child's school allows students to remain silent during instructional time on the Day of Silence.

So the bullies are to get their own special holiday. But what if the schools and communities are so relieved by the lull in bullying that they plead with Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer to keep them home?

Day Of Silence, Day Of Bigotry: Who Are The Victims, Who Are The Bullies?

It's somehow ironic that this year's Day of Silence falls on TAX Day. One day is looked upon as a necessary evil, while it is sad to think that the other is necessary at all. And to America's school children, it has become a day which separates the bullies and their comrades, from the victims and their friends.

It's also a day that America's moralists oppose by insisting that their children are the real victims - of indoctrination.

Keep your child from being sexually indoctrinated!!

 On this day, students participating in the "Day of Silence" will wear pro-homosexuality T-shirts, buttons, and stickers, refuse to answer teachers' questions in classrooms, make it difficult for other students to concentrate, and generally take over school campuses for the entire day.

Thousands of government high schools and increasing numbers of junior high and middle schools are allowing this propaganda throughout an entire day -- even during instructional time. The purpose of the silent civil disobedience is to promote homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality to other students throughout the entire day.

In the past, some moralists have encouraged children remaining in schools to carry a card that says this:

"True tolerance means that people with differing -- even opposing -- viewpoints can freely exchange ideas and respectfully listen to each other. It's time for an honest conversation about homosexuality. There's freedom to change if you want to. Let's talk."

Interesting. The above statement seems to indicate that a free exchange merely means telling gay teens that they can change. Knowing how virulent some of the rhetoric of moralists can be, it's doubtful that gay teens and their friends would ever be able to get a word in edgewise. 

Be that as it may, more and more groups like the Illinois Family Association and Save California are giving up on the "exchange ideas" concept and encouraging families to keep their children home from school. Other organizations opposing the Day of Silence: American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Mission America, Traditional Values Coalition, Americans for Truth and Liberty Counsel. Because of the dissemination of false information about homosexuality, some of these groups have been considered hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"We want education, not indoctrination."


So sayeth the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of Hom*phobia, Pastor Ken Hutcherson.* And as you can see from the above, "indoctrination" is now the main issue, with moralists thinking that THEY are being bullied into "acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle". Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel says "Students and staff who disagree with a radical sexualized agenda are demonized and made to feel like outsiders."


Yes, quite an ironic statement, considering that when it comes to demonizing, America's leaders of the Christian Right do it constantly and consistently. 


And yet they constantly deny any responsibility in gay teen suicides. Tony Perkins recently said that there has never been a study linking suicides to religion and society (The Christian Right). Such a disingenuous statement may elicit laughter from most people, but, as I've stated before, it only goes to show that righteous arrogance precludes reality: more than 30,000 Americans commit suicide each year and 5,000 of them are teenagers. A majority of suicides are caused by depression as a result of "not fitting in" or feeling inadequate. Such feelings have been compounded by religion and religious groups for hundreds of years. Events like Halloween "Hell Houses" make the "sinner/outcast" point so stridently that teen suicides spike at that time of year.   


Another irony in telling parents to keep their kids home: Day of Silence is voluntary to students, not matter what moralists say about schools mandating silence. But pulling a son or daughter out of school, is NOT voluntary to the students. A form of bullying is displayed by the parents: righteous bullying. Any form of "demonizing" on the part of participants in the Day Of Silence spreads to the families of the absent students. Keeping kids away from school certainly widens the gap between intolerance and acceptance. 


Bullies. Victims. Intolerance. Acceptance. This day may, more than ever, delineate the kids and families involved.


*Hutcherson is noted for a supposed "joke": "If a man ever opens a door for me, I'll tear his arm off and whip him with the wet end.