BY: MARY PORTES

GUEST WRITER

Last Friday, Manhattan witnessed its first Day of Silence. The new LGBT club on campus made it a campus wide event and those who wanted to participate helped out by making posters as well as taking a vow of silence. What exactly is this vow of silence? The whole idea of the day of silence is to protest bullying against the LGBT community. I personally have not seen much awareness of LGBT on campus and thought this was a step in making it known that there is an LGBT presence.

Two friends of mine placed tape over their mouths. The tape itself had the words “No H8” written on it which represents the No H8 campaign. This itself is a brave act considering that everyone questioned their decision to do this. When asked to comment on the act, my friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, stated “I got a lot of looks. But that was the point.” However, she was relentless and stood by her vow to stay silent for the day.

When asked to comment on the event, Ivan Rios, creator of the Manhattan LGBT club stated “ I participated during the day myself and I believe that everyone should participate in this day at least once in their lives.  It allows you to somewhat mimic the experience of an ordinary day for the average bullied LGBT person who does not have a voice.  I would have liked to see more people participating, but it was a last minute thing as well.  Next year it will be carefully planned along with other events that we shall do.  As for increasing awareness, I think that there is more awareness of the club after this day.  It may not be huge, but it is a small step.”

Ivan presents a very good point. The presence of the LGBT community was introduced and promoted even though everyone didn’t know about it. The fact that the select few that participated got questioned by their decision to take the vow is a step forward towards making the Day of Silence as well as the LGBT club better known throughout campus.