Be Silent Today: Stop Anti-LGBT Bullying and Harassment in Schools

Sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in the US, the National Day of Silence is a day of action in which students and youth take some form of a vow of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Through their activities students can speak out against harassment and organize for change for their schools and communities.

According to the event’s official website, “The Day of Silence is a Tool for Change. Organizing a Day of Silence activity or event can be a positive tool for change-both personally and community-wide. By taking a vow of silence, you’re making a powerful statement about the important issue of anti-LGBT bullying. When you organize others to join you that message becomes louder and louder. You can use this attention as a building block in your plans for larger action.”

In Armenia, local NGO Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK Armenia) has made a public statement (both on their site and on their Facebook page) about keeping silent today:

“We apologize, but we won’t be available for the world on April 15: we will not respond to emails, phone calls; we will not have any activities and will not provide any direct service. On April 15, we will keep silence for… [the Day of Silence].”

Recall, last year, the Day of Silence fell on Apr. 16, which was also marked as Police Day in Armenia. As a result, the RA Chief of Police (allegedly not wanting to have anything to do with a day associated with the LGBT community) asked the president to change the day to Apr. 19; however, after searching online, neither the police chief nor the president were able to find anything that linked the Day of Silence to Apr. 16 and so Police Day remained unchanged.

And, as journalist and writer Lusine Vayachyan writes in the news site Armenian Version, they were right: the Day of Silence is a floating day and this year is marked on Apr. 15, “and so our police can hold their parade on Apr. 16 undisturbed, silently joining the struggle against other [forms of] pressure the day before.”