Did you know April 25th is a day set aside to protest bullying and harassment of students because of their sexual orientation? Friday is the 12th annual National Day of Silence. Founded in 1999 at the University of Virginia, it is a day students vow to be silent to protest discrimination of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students. This year's observance honors Lawrence King, a 15-year-old Californian who was killed inside his own school by one of his classmates. Sitting in class and murdered because of his sexual orientation. Because sometimes, he wore a dress or makeup to school.
     Ten years ago, Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left to die because (according to trial testimony by the killers' girlfriends) two men went in search of a gay man to rob. Shepard passed away five days later of his injuries. Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., in an expression of sympathy to Shepard's parents, wrote that "civil rights include gay and lesbian rights."
     In a public service announcement video on YouTube, former N'Sync boy band member, Lass Bass, says, "Every day, thousands of students are silenced. They are silenced by fear. They are silenced for being who they are." He tells us what we already know: they are our brothers and sisters, classmates and friends. He goes on to say that hundreds of thousands of students will participate in the day of silence because they know that harassment and bullying must stop. Bass knows first hand about this fear. He spoke about it in a 2006 interview with People magazine when he announced he is gay.
     When I was in school, we didn't have politically correct words like gay or bisexual—only slurs. I wouldn't have known that some of my classmates were gay because no one would have dared to admit it. Today, I have many gay and lesbian friends. One is a graduate student at the University. It scares me to think someone would want to hurt him because his sexual orientation isn't the same as theirs.
     I felt proud when I learned our local high school is involved. This will be Rosemount High School's third observance of National Day of Silence, which Principal Greg Clausen says, "Brings discrimination to light." The day is sponsored by the school's Gay-Straight Alliance.
     The message of National Day of Silence is one that can easily last a lifetime. Once we become painfully aware of the cruelty that is heaped on LGBT students—name calling, harassment, bullying, even murder—the hate can stop. Our awareness can lead to a lifelong journey of tolerance and empathy for fellow students, family members, co-workers…all God's children.
     In observance of the 10 years since his death, the Matthew Shepard Foundation (www.matthewshepardfoundation.org) has introduced a campaign to Erase Hate. Let's do it. Remember how proud you felt when the teacher asked you to come forward and erase the blackboard? Erasing hate will feel just as good.