Parents wrote that they feared their kids would be retaliated against if they refused to remain silent for the day.
Parents of public-middle-school students in New York are raising concerns over a national LGBT youth organization’s “day of silence,” arguing that students are pressured and even bullied into remaining silent throughout an entire school day in the name of supporting a progressive agenda that may violate their religious convictions.
Created by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the annual event, which falls on April 14 this year, asks students to sign off on a pledge to stay quiet all day to call attention to the way in which gay kids are allegedly silenced in modern American society.
“There is an unprecedented level of anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policy currently being weaponized against our community, and we thank you for everything you have been doing for and in solidarity with students,” reads a GLSEN student guide for this year’s event. “As LGBTQ+ students and educators across the country face attacks on their rights to access affirming books, healthcare, and even the right to be called by the right name and pronouns at school, we use this day as a collective protest to demonstrate the power of our voices and the impact of our silence.”
Hundreds of thousands of students participate each year, GLSEN claims, remaining silent throughout the school day before attending rallies and events to discuss new ideas for inclusivity in schools.
“Please understand my reasons for not speaking today,” reads a pledge card distributed to students and obtained by the Foundation against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR). “My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling, and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices.”
The 2023 student guide offers inspiration for kids planning “Break the Silence” festivities for when the protest concludes. It encourages organizers to attempt to answer questions such as “What is your vision for a liberated school environment? What does it look like? What does it smell like? Who is there with you? How do you feel? What is different about this vision from your current reality?”
Multiple parents whose children attend Felix Festa Achievement Middle School in the Clarkstown Central School District in West Nyack, N.Y., submitted incident reports detailing the event through FAIR’s anonymous reporting portal. They told FAIR that students report feeling compelled to sign the card to avoid retaliation or being labeled a bigot.
“Children who are not LGBTQ feel compelled to remain silent because they fear being bullied by their peers. The participants of the Student Gay Alliance go around with a sign-up board asking their straight peers to sign and agree to being silent on that specific day,” one parent wrote in a testimony. “Children often sign because of fear, or looking bad, or being called homophobic. Many children stay home from school that day, so they aren’t frowned upon for participating in the classroom.”
Another parent said the event will disrupt students’ learning, which has already been severely stifled by two years of school closures because of Covid.
“My kid doesn’t go to school to be an activist, he goes to be a student,” Charlotte W., a parent of a sixth-grader at Felix Festa, told FAIR. “Many kids don’t want to remain silent for a full day at school because it makes it extremely challenging to complete their school work — asking questions, offering answers in class — how do you do that if you’re not allowed to speak? So when those kids don’t participate in the Day of Silence, they’re asked, ‘are you a bigot?’ Well-meaning or not, this kind of activism is having the opposite effect — pitting kids against each other.”
On March 27, Leigh Ann O’Neill, Managing Director of Legal Advocacy FAIR sent a letter to the school’s principals that seemed to leave open the possibility of legal action.
The letter notes that, while the school is requiring students to participate in the event, students who abstain could be harassed or bullied, effectively coercing them to join in.
“Requiring students to remain silent as a form of political activism violates the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment. That guarantee denies states and their agencies (including public schools) the power to require adherence to any particular set of ideological beliefs,” O’Neill wrote. “Many religions reject the claims and basic tenants ascribed by the LGBT movement. Compelling students to affirm ideas contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs, with no ability to opt out, violates their religious rights as guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
An attorney representing the school district assured FAIR that students would not be required to participate in the event.
“Please note that the District does not require or pressure any students to participate in the Day of Silence, nor does it tolerate conduct that violates the rights of others,” the lawyer wrote in response to FAIR.