Day Of Silence: Nationwide Anti-Bullying Campaign

Today is the “Day of Silence,” a day to recognize and give attention to verbal and physical abuse endured by gay students across the country. Organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), this is the 15th annual Day of Silence, recognized today, April 16.

Writing for SheWire, Leslie Dobbins reports:

In response to the flurry of stories about bullying in America’s classrooms, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has organized its 15th annual Day of Silence for Friday, April 16.

Students nationwide will remain silent during classes in an effort to call attention to the verbal and physical abuse endured by gay students.

While more than 5,000 public schools are allowing students affiliated with their gay and lesbian advocacy groups to take part in the protests, many family organizations are calling for families to pull their children out of school. Their main argument, “it’s a disruptive waste of taxpayer dollars and it will be used to indoctrinate kids by forcing a pro-gay agenda into schools.”

“I think that we shouldn’t be exploiting public education for this,” Laurie Higgins, Director of school advocacy for the Illinois Family Institute told FoxNews. “There are better ways to use taxpayer money. We send our kids there to learn the subject matter, not … to be unwillingly exposed to political protest during instructional time.”

Yesterday there was some confusion about Obama canceling the National Day of Prayer, though in fact it was just the White House Prayer service on that day that has been cancelled. Both that, and this topic, are now trending on Google Trends.