Letter to the Editor
Day of truth
Published Friday, May 2, 2008
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!April 25, 2008
To the editor:
So recently, I have noticed a lot of people I talked to about the “Day of Silence” complained about how the “homosexuals want to brainwash us” and how “I didn’t intend for my tax dollars to be spent on a day like this.” I just wanted to shed some light on the Day of Silence.
First of all, it was not school-sponsored. It was created by the students, for the students. Your “tax dollars” were not “wasted” on this. There is absolutely no reason to think such a thing, especially since the News-Miner stated clearly what I just said — I’m only 16, don’t tell me that I can read better than you adults.
Second, be respectful of the Day of Silence. It was the one day out of the whole year that the school(s) are able to set aside their regular activities to bring attention to the bullying and harassment that happens every day in schools from peer to peer (teacher to peer, even). I think setting up the “Day of Truth” was a mistake — Why couldn’t they join in on the Day of Silence to defend their brothers and sisters struggling with bullying who can’t defend themselves?
It just happened to be sponsored by the GSA community at West Valley High School, because nobody else had the guts to do such a thing. For those of you who oppose the LGBTQ community, think about this: If they are intending to “brainwash” us, why would they want to have a day to bring attention to the bullying that happens every day in schools? Are your tax dollars better spent allowing bullies to continue? Are they the only ones who are open enough to care about others? It is hard to find selfless teenagers nowadays, people. Let’s not shame them for their obvious good intentions.
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
Right On, Young Warrior!
This has been over Taylor...stop dragging the past around. If you want to get on your soapbox pay attention to when it's meritted!
And BTW the DOS is and was sponsored by LGBTQ not the students who said "hey lets have gay day to stop the bullying and murdering of cross dressing boys!" The DOT was to counter that bigoted with a day to deal with all problems not just "a gay thing you wouldn't understand!"
And tax dollars....it was school sponsored if it was on school grounds! If our faculity was involved or SILENT it was school sponsored! and what about those parents that kept there kids home, had to miss work or pay for a babysitter to watch there kids so they could work?
It would have been GREAT if it was about BULLYING or ACCEPTING PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENCES or GUNS IN SCHOOL but it was about the HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA!! Get real and stop trying to blame every christian in town for being a bigot when it's the OPEN MINDED community that's being the BIGOTED SECT! This event was the 25th of April let's focus on something else like hey yesterday was National Day of Prayer let's give the kids a day of meditation and prayer and allow excusable absenses to all who don't want to attend school, and let our faculity facilitate such an event allowing kids to vent and exercise their religion to their GOD and express therir hurts caused by religion and the bigoted world we live in....amen!
OneVoice was rattling on when they said "faculity[sic] facilitate such an event allowing kids to ... express therir[sic] hurts caused by religion and the bigoted world we live in..."
Funny thing, that's exactly what the DoS was really about! Standing up against the fundamentalist religious nuts and the bigoted world they want us to live in!
Why are there still letters being put in here about the day of silence? Are people not over that already. I am really, it's like the dnm is publishing them just to give people something to argue about. I'm sure there is a better letter that could have been posted-other than this one.
Taylor,
Many of these bullies have fears that they are trying to push back, fear of social ridicule, fear of themselves. Thats why frequently people who have been bullied become bullies. I'm glad that you and the other students made an effort to break the cycle.
To you guys who are "so over it" and think this kid should "move on" you might want to remember that the DNM only allows you to publish a letter once a month. April 25th was not like it was December!
I love it when Christians say, we are not the bigots.....its them! And when other groups blame it all on Christians!
its always someone else's fault ain't it guys? Give me a break!
It is about every stinking one of us looking at someone else and saying... "they are different" they are Emo, they are ugly, they are fat, they are preppy, they are black, they are..... You fill in the blank!
I applaud you Taylor, and I hope as you grow into adulthood you do not loose your sense of compassion and understanding, cause as we get older and older, it is easy to crow cynical, weary and ambivilant. Keep up the good work, and remember, you unfortunately will not be able to change the minds of people who are not deep thinkers.
Also, to One Voice, since west valley was the only school who observed this day, I highly doubt any parents had to hire babysitters. Also the teachers were business as usual, it was the kids who for once were silent!
taylor my BOY,
your only 16 remember that and do what 16 year olds do.
enjoy school, go out for a sport, date a GIRL (if you think your gay power to you, if you are you really dont have a clue considering your youth), go sking, read a book (Don Cole's book on raising boys would be a good start), shoot a gun, go fishing etc....
wait to deal with adult issues when you become one.
lets move on. your day is over, water under the bridge.
if your looking for trouble keep it up and it will find you. my advice would be keep silent and people wont bother you or what you stand for. push it on others and you get what you get. thats life in our world. enjoy your youth.
you cant even vote yet! cant buy a beer etc..... yea you hit my hot spot!
peace
Yes, heaven forbid you should enilghten yourself, or express opinions. Wait until the time is appropriate my boy. There is no reason for you to form such complex things as opinions right now. No reason for you to take a stance on something that you feel passionately about. Sit back, relax, let us adults take care of this for you. We know what's best for you. We will make it all better, trust me, you onlty THINK you don't like things.
All comments made with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
"If your [sic] looking for trouble keep it up and it will find you" sounds like a thinly veiled threat there Hambone...careful. Your best advice is to "keep silent"? Wow, raise many lemmings?
I love the paranoia around this "Gay Agenda"...can someone please tell me where I can find this agenda? I would love to look at it. Or is something that is only made available after I join?
Taylor, good for you. Good on you for having an opinion, having the courage to speak up, and having the courage to stick to your convictions. Next time, maybe a little more timely, but I applaud your courage.
In my day if you got into trouble at school you got the board of education on your butt....You cant play tag at school, dodge ball etc. etc. And Youall wonder why the schools (teachers) are creating dumbed down mush brains. Sensitivity to others is OK but it is an overblown liberal agenda.
It's good to see someone so young trying to address a problem that smokes out the bigots in our lands. I can see the non native being bigotted and racist with their ongoing history of enslaving, raping, murdering and committing genocide against the Indigenous Peoples of the world in order to rob, steal, pillage, and plunder their natural resources and Native lands for European colonization, but it's disappointing to see Natives jumping on that bigotted and racist bandwagon.
Since we've been the target of racism and bigotry by the hypocrites who hide behind religions cloak, while they practice principles exactly opposite of what their whitemans Jesus lived and breathed, I have trouble seeing my people being bigotted and racist also.
This legalized bigotry has come about by passed legislation and legal rulings by the ethically, morally and legally bankrupt as well as Conflict of Interest and Collusion challenged Legislators and the equally corrupt Neo Con United States Supreme Court Justices. In order to cloak the real issue of their Gutting and Usurping the same United States Constitution their Founding Fathers fought and died for. To continue the theft and eventually the insolvency of our United States Treasury, for what ends?
Anyway Thanks. As a straight, I have no problem with gay or lesbians, most are just as we, with their own problems and headaches.
In other words, I'm comfortable with my own masculinity enough so gays and lesbians don't bother me.
Make a comparison of that to the homophobic hate, hypocricy and bigotry spewing out in the form of hate filled legislation against minorities, by the same Neo Con Republican or Democratic Legislators, who themselves are being arrested for sex crimes and corruption. Apparently they are ashamed and dispise the fact they are gay so they think they can wipe away that stain if they make legislation outlawing and to persecute ones who are gay or lesbian. Or that something to that effect.
here we go again.
The real issue is that the dos is being misrepresented here by Taylor. Go to their web site and see what it is about. My sister is Transgenger and I know that it is this type of misrepresentation that brought her to that way of life. Dos portrays its self as anti bullying, but actually it is only about GLT bullying. The whole Silence reference is about how people tell GLT to not talk about the fact that they are GLT and observing this day is to show others how it feels to be silenced like them. When you are just a chubby girl with asthma who reads a lot and gets bullied you could think this day was for you. You find sympathy and support in the GLT community and before you know it you are Gay Lesbian or Transgender yourself. Don't bother trying to tell me this isn't how it goes. I saw this happen to my otherwise normal sister. What the adgenda is is that being normal stinks and being different is better and more fulfilling. I think parents need to solve bullying. Sacrifice is not an accepted practice in our culture. If your child is having that much trouble with bullying, move, homeschool, do WHATEVER it takes to help them before they seek "help" from the GLT anti-bullying club and get sucked in! I do not blame the GLT kids here. It is the adult culture supporting them and making this all seem right and normal. These kids need families and friend who PROTECT them, not suppot them no matter what.
I guess I personally am not too interested in the DOS but the discussion here that for some reason this kid should be silent is offensive. I'm sure that he is living in the USA and is a citizen and has every RIGHT to speak his mind. As far as the issue being "water under the bridge", well, I guess that goes for the abortion and creation issues. I do not expect to ever again hear about those things from the above advocates of self censorship.
Out of the few hundred students that I talked to at West Valley, the DOS was a FLOP. Few knew about it and even less participated... except for at least one as evident by this article. It's ironic to me that yesterday's National Day of Prayer was a much BIGGER success. WTG!
One Voice, I wish you peace in your turmoil. You sound saddended by things that are out of your control - and since when were the terms Christian and Open Minded mutually exclusive? Jesus' example was of love for ALL, not those who conform to strict traditional standards. I am not one to preach, but your post made me concerned for you.
Peace be with you all.
Funny, theTruth, I never even heard about this "National Day of Prayer". Didn't see it advertised, didn't see it in the paper, didn't hear about it from any friends or acquaintances.
Thus, I don't see how you could tout it to be a "much BIGGER success", when the general public hadn't even heard of it!
Your a funny man!
[Also, I have to wonder how many parents kept kids home on the DoS vs. how many parents kept kids home on the DoP. If there was a significant difference swaying towards the DoS, then it should be readily obvious where the intolerance is coming from. It would be interesting to get some info on that...]
I don't know much about this issue other than it seems that some things should be left for kids to decide on what they want to participate in. For the person that said that this child should keep doing what 16 yr olds do---hopefully he is. He is making opinions and decisions for himself. Were you saying that we should educate our kids, but they shouldn't be able to have an opinion of it? I am amazed that you would actually voice your ignorance on this forum, but I guess that is your right as well.
What we need here are much larger rocks
So small minded are trapped in their socks
They can't crawl outside
To go fight the tide
When they wake up to their alarm clocks
I posted my gay agenda in a reply to an earlier letter, but a quick recap would show that it doesn't include anything very interesting. Today's gay agenda began with errands, was followed by a walk, and later today will include making dinner with my husband. The big, scary gay agenda is out to ruin it for EVERYONE! You'd better take cover. :)
You know, I know that anything I have to say isn't going to change people's minds. Hatred of GLBTIQ people runs deep. Regardless, I'll just point out that part of the reason DOS was created is because 4 out of 5 GLBTIQ students in the nation report verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school. That's twice the national average for bullying of other students, if I remember my stats correctly.
I don't think any young person should be denied the opportunity to stand up for their own safety. As long as people take the time to demonstrate for their right to safety, DOS will be a huge success, regardless of how many particpate.
I am the author of this letter, and let me clarify a few major points:
ONE: I am straight.
TWO: I am female
THREE: Whoever it was that said I didnt know what i really wanted in life, You can visit that scary underground place. I may not know everything for my life, but i DO know that I am sick and tired of seeing the harassment- It's growing old.
FOUR: you proved my point, that I read better then most of you. had you actually READ my letter, you'd of noticed I wrote it on April 25th, the same day as the DOS. The News Miner had a lot of letters to print, therefor mine was delayed.
:]] thank you so much for proving my point exactly.
Also...peteandapril - I feel for the trans-identified person who is part of your family. Obviously they have been very brave, coming out despite your bigotry. I really hope that they have a supportive community to provide the love that you seem bent on denying them based on your disrespectful language.
I know that new ideas are sometimes scary, but maybe you can try this one on for size: GLBTIQ (that's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex, and queer or questioning) people ARE normal. They lead average lives, spending time with the people who love them. Thank goodness there are alot of those people in the world.
I could go on, but as I said earlier, my words will likely not change minds. What does change minds? Making an example by living my life as well as I can.
Taylor/birdtail,
I bet your parents are very proud of you. More importantly, I hope you're proud of yourself. Fairbanks could use more adults as mature, independent and astute as you are.
Tatlor/birdtail: You go girl! Don't back down. I support you kids and what you are doing, so please don't take my next comment personally.
The rest of you posters: Can we just have a day of silence regarding the whole blasted topic?
"Can we just have a day of silence regarding the whole blasted topic?"
Why? So that we can pretend that these issues are only important on designated days?
Also, that isn't meant to sound snarky. I really do just wonder why conversations are supposed to have a shelf life.
Because, Julia, at a certain point, conversations become counterproductive. If we could be assured that everyone here was listening to everyone else and honestly evaluating their beliefs every time someone posted an opposing view, it would be different. Very little of that happens here and often, the conversation serves only to reinforce an already held belief.