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In the late 1970s, I came to know members of The Living Theater, a somewhat anarchic company of actors under the leadership of Julian Beck and Judith Malina. Those who were members as far back as 1971 told stories of their imprisonment for subversion in Brazil. They had been forbidden to perform their rehearsed production. In civil disobedience to the military government's censorship, they took to the streets and performed the piece in silence, and were summarily arrested. Expressions of outrage by artistic and intellectual communities throughout Europe and the United States succeeded in gaining the theater company's liberation from jail and its unceremonious expulsion from the country. On April 25, 2008, students on college and public school campuses collectively committed to a vow of silence commemorating an MBT Shoes event known as the National Day of Silence. This student-generated, nationwide action theatrically "speaks out" in solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people who for one reason or another fear they cannot, or simply do not, speak out for themselves. Following its inception in 1996, the Day of Silence garnered worldwide interest. Each year, this public display of unity by students is joined by increasing numbers of schools, and it has become a day observed by tens of thousands of students on hundreds of campuses. Its purpose is to raise awareness and bring an end to the name-calling, harassment, and bullying suffered by LGBT youth, their friends, and their families. There is also growing support among student-generated organizations generally known as Gay-Straight Alliances for a Night of Noise, an event intended to enhance Day of Silence activities. Christian reactionaries have established a "Day of Truth" "to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective". They would have you believe that the Day of Silence is anti-Christian and an attempt to recruit vulnerable children to a "gay lifestyle." In my opinion, no suggestion could be more offensive or further from the truth. The Day of Silence emulates the example of Judeo-Christian prophets who purportedly stood up against the greatest of odds and spoke out on behalf of the most desperately oppressed people. In 2001, the Day of Silence came under the official organizational sponsorship of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN is a national education organization committed to securing school safety for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. A National School Climate Survey that GLSEN conducted in 2005 found that four out of five students are either victimized by or Clearance MBT Shoes witness to acts of verbal, sexual, or physical homophobic harassment. Verbal attacks range from the offhand remark "that's so gay"—meaning stupid, ridiculous, untouchable, or some variation thereof—to the use of epithets in direct face-to-face baiting and badgering. More than 30% of students surveyed by GLSEN admitted to avoiding school out of concern for their personal safety.
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