Students participating in yesterday's 10th annual nationwide Day of Silence broke their vigil at a rally sponsored by the Tufts LGBT Center and the Queer Students Association (QSA).
Participants went the whole day without speaking. Their silence was intended to mirror the silence of a gay or lesbian person who feels that he or she must keep their sexual orientation secret.
After their tight-lipped day, participants let loose with screams at the rally, and then shared their thoughts on their personal Day of Silence experiences.
"Silence, as small an impact as it seems, is quite a profound statement," said freshman Sofia Nelson, a QSA representative and event co-coordinator. "You realize how much talking you do and how hard it is to give up."
Fellow QSA representative and event coordinator Sam Stiegler, a senior, felt that his silence impacted those around him.
"People came up to me, and when I didn't talk, they were like, 'Oh, you're silent today,'" he said. "I think the day has a very important impact and will continue to do so. It was very effective and far reaching."
. Living a life of intimidation and fear because of one's sexual orientation can have real consequences, Stiegler said: "If you're gay, and you can't come out, statistics show that you're more likely to suffer from depression, alcoholism and suicide."
Nelson could not give an estimate of the number of Tufts students who kept the silence, but said that it was "a good number of people."
Nelson and Stiegler said that organizers select a different theme each year in order to give the event a current focus. This year, the participants discussed the U.S. military's policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
The policy prohibits homosexual conduct in the military and bars openly gay individuals from the service, but permits gay individuals to serve as long as their sexual orientation remains undisclosed.
Recently, "The Call of Duty Tour," a speaker series featuring closeted young gay individuals in the military, highlighted debate over the policy and inspired Tufts' focus on the theme for this year's event.
Tufts alumnus Jay Hardee (LA '99) described why the policy could be so problematic: "If you're an ROTC student and you're found out, then you lose your funding," he said. "You also have to pay it back."
Participants hoped that students at the rally would go on to lobby their government representatives for changes to the policy.
"It isn't okay for people who are gay to fear for their life or job," Nelson said. Such means of livelihood, she said, are "a basic human right."
