LGBT members and their supporters nationwide partake in the Day of Silence, a day of not talking. It honors the silence members in the LGBT community have had to go through in the past.

An inexhausted list of who are in the LGBT community are those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Frequently, LGBT members are believed to have some form of mental illness. Enter the Day of Silence: an act done to show support to those who have been silenced from the stigma of the LGBT community.

Recently, transgender youth have had bills on the floor pushing for what gender they were assigned at birth for sports, making it significantly harder to participate in gender-conforming activities. Additionally, transgender youth have been declined medical treatment.

Erin Sagaskie, a teacher at Carbondale Community High School, stated “there are advantages, depending on the makeup of the person, in general men are faster in races than women… it’s a real struggle to know what’s right for that.”

Lauren Naugle, a bisexual junior at Carbondale Community High School, stated “that is unfair because when you have a transgender student who comes out as a female, they are a female. It is unfair to make them go to a male’s sport…” in regards to transgender women and sports.

Other members of LGBT members have had bills against them to decline same-sex marriage. Ultimately, former president Barack Obama legalized same sex marriage in 2015.

Participating in the Day of Silence shows that people are not going to stand up with getting put down for who they love. Sagaskie hasn’t participated in the past, stating that “I didn’t know anything about it prior to teaching…” but given the opportunity to do it as a teacher, she stated she would do it.

Naugle stated that she has not participated in a full day of silence but intends on participating in the future and this year would be the first year.

You don’t have to be an LGBT member to participate in it, nor do you need to know anyone who is an LGBT member. The Day of Silence is open to all supporters regardless of age. You also don’t have to commit to the Day of Silence all day. Participating in it for most of the day still shows your respect. It’s also requested that you participate safely.

Naugle specifically stated that for the first time participating “…instead of doing a full 24 hours maybe only do a couple hours and if they are scared to do it maybe because they haven’t come out yet or they’re scared of how someone might react, only do a partial day.”

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that gay rights are human rights and trans rights are human rights. Transgender women are valid women and transgender men are valid women. You can get more information about the Day of Silence at the GLSEN website.