I am sure you have seen it all over campus and maybe for a brief second you contemplated what it is about. I mean, "Silence = Death" seems quite contrary to the whole idea of being silent for the day. If anything, it should be the Day of Loud and Lively Discussion, right? Confronted by this seemingly ill-conceived slogan or campaign name, maybe you were able to piece together that SASD is sponsoring the event and therefore must have something to do with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans) rights. If you have, your deductive skills have served you well, but the whole message is still unclear. Why are they being silent and why does Silence = Death? To understand this, you need to see life through the eyes of an LGBT individual, out or closeted, but especially the latter.
Imagine being able to hide your race to blend perfectly into the rest of the population. Different races would still exist due to different cultures, etc., but if everyone looked alike and behaved alike, you would never know they existed unless they told you. As you hear about racial discrimination on the news, you would reason, "I don't know anyone who is ________, and besides, they can just choose not to tell anyone," and carry on with your life. But imagine living a life where you must deny who you really are and conform to the social norm just to be treated equally. Imagine being beat up, losing your job, harassed and being denied something just because you are _________. Wouldn't you want to be treated just like everyone else and still be who you are?
This is precisely the predicament closeted LGBT individuals find themselves in everyday. They can choose to remain closeted and benefit from heterosexual privilege while suppressing anything that isn't the norm. Many LGBT individuals choose to do this in exchange for higher rates of depression, suicide, substance abuse, unprotected sex and other high-risk behaviors. Meanwhile, those who belong to the majority cannot identify with their plight and or perceive it as something that doesn't affect them. But according to some studies, about 10 percent of the population falls into this LGBT spectrum. So, you may wonder, "If that is true, how come I don't know any? Or how come of all the people I know, it is nowhere near 10%?" Answer: because many who are LGBT have decided to keep it a secret so they can be seen as themselves rather than by their label.
Thus, silence is truly death; many studies have concluded that LGBT youth are up to four times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers. Racial minorities cannot choose to hide. If they want equality, they must fight for them, as they have. However, the LGBT minority can. Ideally, society would accept the LGBT minority just as any other but such acceptance does not come naturally. With LGBT people afraid to advocate for their own rights for the fear of outing themselves, the social change they hope for is much more difficult to obtain. Thus, those of the majority must lend a helping hand to facilitate and expedite this change.
Consider this: If 10 percent of the human population is LGBT, it is likely someone you know belongs to this minority and that this person is someone close to you. Imagine one day a good friend of yours has committed suicide by hanging themselves in a closet. They decided that a life in the closet was not life at all and so decided to end it there. You may be mad at yourself for not being for them when they needed you. You would argue with yourself: "If only I knew, I would have support them." But at this point, it is too late. However, there is something you can do before it is too late -- participate in the Day of Silence. Show others that your silence is deafening. Tell them that discrimination based on sexual orientation is unacceptable by never saying a word. Let others know that there is a problem and you are willing to make a difference, for solutions can only be found if people know there is a problem.
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