A Quiet Protest

A group of about 30 students marched towards Dunn Meadow in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights for the National Day of Silence at IU. \nThe march, which began at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the IU campus, was one of several events that went along with IU’s commemoration of the National Day of Silence. The day is meant to bring awareness by taking a vow of silence to represent the fact that many groups, such as the GLBT community, are often silenced for being different. \nThe march began at four different locations, the Showalter Fountain, the Jacobs School of Music fountain, Teter Quad and in the McNutt Quad circle drive.\nEventually, all four groups met at 10th Street and Fee Lane. They then walked down 10th Street to Woodlawn Avenue and then down Seventh Street to conclude the march and break the silence in Dunn Meadow. Diane Grise, junior and president of the planning committee for the National Day of Silence at IU, led the group on a countdown as they broke their silence and cheered. \nCoordinator for GLBT Student Support Services Doug Bauder said he was glad he did not hear any negative comments shouted at the group, which has occurred in past years. \nAlthough the turnout was not as great as in previous years, Bauder said he is glad about 1,000 T-shirts that read “embracing diversity” were distributed last week to students for the National Day of Silence. \n“I think sometimes it’s harder to (wear a t-shirt) alone than to walk in a group,” Bauder said. \nAfterward, people shared their experiences of taking a vow of silence for the entire day. \nFreshman Jurion Jaffe shared his experience with the crowd. Jaffe said he had a lot of support throughout the day but did find some people who questioned his decision to take part of the day. \n“I learned that it’s still, even in Bloomington where we are suppose to be a culture hub, it’s still important to (take part in the march),” Jaffee said. \nSenior Nicholas Mitchaner said the size of the crowd continues to get smaller each year. Although he said it might be an indication of tolerance increasing for the GLBT community, Mitchaner said people should “keep fighting the good fight.”\nSophomore Marc Mason also participated in the march and took a vow of silence. He said he found a lot of his friends were supportive of his decision to take part in the day. \nAfter the day of silence, Mason said he wants people to understand that everyone is the same despite having different sexual preferences. \nThe march concluded with Eric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education, encouraging the crowd to think about the message of the event and embrace diversity and not just tolerate it. \nThe march concluded with everyone giving each other a hug. \n“I believe a change is going to come,” Love said. “We are building allies; we do care about each other.”