Presentation of an article - Group makes noise over Day of Silence

Presentation of an article - Group makes noise over Day of Silence

Hi everyone!
My article talks about the "Day of silence" ,an event which seeks to combat antigay bias in schools, in USA, begun on a small scale in 1996 and observed by tens of thousand of students annually at hundreds of schools and colleges across the country.
Most Day of Silence participants go through the school day without speaking - a tactic for drawing attention to the isolation and harassment experienced by many gay students.

Since 2001,Day of Silence observances have been coordinated by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) a New York-based organization that also has worked to support gay-straight alliances at high schools.
The Alliance Defence Fund ,a Christian legal group that has opposed same-sex marriage is launching a counter-event called the Day of Truth aimed at mobilizing students who believe homosexuality is sinful. The event is endorsed by a several influential conservative organizations, including the Christian ministry Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

The first important point underlined by Kevin Jennings, the executive director of GLSEN, is that the Day of Silence was an event conceived of by students themselves in response to a very real problem of bullying and harassment they saw on their campuses, while the Day of Truth is a publicity stunt cooked up by a conservative organization with a political agenda, an effort to manipulate some kids.

There's also a fundamental disagreement over the rationale for the Day of Silence. GLSEN and its allies say the silent protest is specifically targeting harassment of gay students, while the Alliance Defence Fund and other conservatives say GLSEN' s agenda is to broaden national acceptance of homosexuality.

Finally, Mike Johnson, an Alliance Defence Fund attorney from Shreveport, said teachers and students critical of homosexuality had been forced to stifle their views while at school.
He said they had had to come up with the Day of Truth because Christian kids had not been allowed to tell their opinion in the first place, but in his opinion that's only fair for the Christian perspective to present their view too if the other side is going to advance their point of view.

In reply Jennings showed his agreement saying that there always should be a place in the school for respectful differences of opinion, GLSEN had no ambitions to keep schools free of all criticism of homosexuality, but he questioned whether the Alliance Defence Fund and its allies were committed to constructive dialogue.


Apart from my sexual orientation, I've always supported the GLBT community because I believe gay and lesbian students should have the same rights as straight people and they should be accepted in human society like "normal" students -and that's could be another point: what's the meaning of "normal"? something normal for me may is not normal for you, and goodness knows what's "normal" for the Christian ministry Focus on the Family!

I think the Day of Silence is a useful and original idea, I would take part in it:

It is a peaceful demonstration but at the same time it can create a particular atmosphere in class and  in my opinion the participants show a very strong determination.
These conservative groups sounds like they want a rough dispute, changing a pacific act in a excuse for launching another event devoid of respect for homosexuals, shouting discriminatory slogans.
They cite the case of a San Diego-area high school student, who was disciplined for refusing to change out of a t-shirt that read "Homosexuality is Shameful": The words on that t-shirt were only offensive, but they said that there's no free of speech!

Shameful are their bias and their malice for people that in 2005 have still to be told they will burn in hell because they LOVE somebody of their same sex.
That tell me there's still a lot work to do.
I'd like to read to you a quote from a tv show before finish my presentation:

"I think God appreciates it even more. Because he created you in his image.
At least that's what I was always taught. And since God is love and God doesn't make mistakes, then you must be exactly the way he wants you to be. And that goes for every person, every et, every mountain, every grain of sand, every song, every tear and every faggot. We're all his, Emmett. He loves us all."