Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

Not all silencing is as direct as a piece of tape across your mouth. But on April 16, LGBT students and their allies at UC Santa Cruz participated in the 14th annual Day of Silence, an annual event where students nationwide wear black and tape their mouths shut to show support for queer rights and spread awareness of homophobia and harassment.

Hundreds of thousands of students nationwide participated in the event, and UCSC students rose to the occasion as well.

Juba Kalamka, an acclaimed black, gay, poet, and hip-hop artist and bondage/sadomasochism porn actor from Oakland, performed at the open mic night that kicked off the “Night of Noise,” held at Cowell Plaza. Kalamka conveyed his thoughts through poetry, and described the event as a success.

“I just think that lots of times events like these get measured in terms of having people show up,” Kalamka said. “I think what’s much more important for students and for people of the community is the fact that they’re happening, that there’s space for them to happen, and that people feel safe enough to make them happen.”

About 20 to 30 enthusiastic students attended the open mic night, during which several people shared their poetry and personal experiences with the audience. One of those performers was Tom Barden, a student who spoke about the challenges of leading a gay life.

“Especially in terms of advocacy, we have to stand up the hardest to the ones that we love,” Barden said. “That’s always going to be the hardest thing to do.”

Barden was visibly emotional as he described his experiences with homophobia with those closest to him.

“When my grandmother won’t be convinced that I can be safe and sane as a gay man, when my mom can’t be convinced that trans-people have a sane understanding of their gender identity, and when my best friends can always tokenize me … I think that the most important thing is that … we don’t let them dictate the dynamics that we progress in a daily fashion.”

Santa Cruz County Congressman Sam Farr showed his support for those present through a statement read by the emcee during the event.

“I’m proud of the thousands of students on the central coast and across the country who are joining us in this effort to end these deplorable acts of discrimination,” Farr said. “We should all be raising our voices to move towards a day when the Day of Silence is not necessary.”

Lydia Andrews, a third-year Oakes student and main proponent of the Day of Silence who was promoting the event earlier in the week in Quarry Plaza, said the event is important because it shows the public what it feels like to always be silent about your sexuality.

“In the gay community, silence is a very common trend. Everybody has to be quiet about what they are and hide what they are … hide that they’re queer,” Andrews said.

Amanda Rabe, a second-year Stevenson student, also worked at the booth in Quarry Plaza the week before the event, and said it was important to her because of her own sexual identity.

“I feel very privileged to finally feel comfortable with my sexuality,” Rabe said. “It took a long time to get to that point. The Day of Silence is for you to remember the times when you yourself had to hide.”

Assemblyman Bill Monning also sent a representative to the event, Allie Spikler. She communicated Monning’s regret that he himself could not attend and was reponsible for expressing the Assemblyman’s support for the event.

“It’s really cool to be at an event like this, being a trans-person who works for our state government,” Spikler said.

Spikler also brought the news that California has just become the first legislative body in the nation to elect an openly gay member, John Perez, to the leadership role of speaker.

Despite these advancements, Elia Martinez, the student emcee for the Day of Silence, expressed concern over divisions in the gay rights movement.

“I see it as a really divided movement,” Martinez said. “I see on the one hand there’s a very homo-normative, very stereotypical white gay male-led push for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), for organizations that are trying to be very hetero-assimilationist fighting for things like gay marriage, fighting for things like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ to be repealed. Those are the things that we are focusing on as opposed to greater issues of societal repression.”

And indeed, the Day of Silence and Night of Noise were focused on the everyday dehumanizing acts of discrimination that affect the gay community.

The division Martinez referred to has a precedent.  Historically there have been schisms within broader civil rights movements between conservative and radical elements, like with the black civil rights movement.

The latter faction of the gay rights movement was in full force during the Night of Noise, especially the colorful Kalamka, who in one of his pieces ironically referred to people “apologizing for the least of us, the unsavory shameless bohemian elements of our kind.”

A local transgender activist, who preferred only to be identified as Lex, summed the national event up while addressing the crowd.

Lex said, “It’s important to recognize that not only are we silenced in a lot of ways, but that there’s a lot of work to be done in building collaboration across communities.”

Illustration by Patrick Yeung.

“Fag,” “Gay,” “Homos,” and “Gays Go to Hell” — these are the words that adorned the UC Davis Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center in February. Despite what some believe, the UC system is not a post-homophobic institution. In the wake of such horrendous acts as the graffiti on the UCD LGBT center, the students and various members of the UC system should reflect upon the importance of tolerance and understanding of all beliefs and lifestyles, be role models to youth, and take an active role in change.

Homophobia is an issue that has recently plagued all forms of education, from the humble beginnings of high school to the high tiers of college.

In March of this year, Mississippi high schooler Constance McMillian was not allowed to attend her prom with her girlfriend due to her desire to don a tuxedo. In an effort to mask McMillian’s sexual preference, the school administration suggested that she and her girlfriend take male dates.

With the creation of Facebook, the ability of people to show support for ideals and take sides on various debatable issues has just become a mouse-click away. For example, groups such as “Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to the Prom” have over 429,000 “fans.” These combat the dark side of Facebook groups, like “Constance quit yer cryin,” which has only 2,790 fans. Although positive in preventing cyberbullying, Facebook group activism is passive activism, and has even coined the term “slacktivism.” Though the internet has allowed for the ability to easily support ideals one believes in, it should not mean that our generation should stop actively participating in change.

In 2007, the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) released a study that nearly nine out of 10 LGBT students, of both middle and high school, experienced harassment in the previous year.

We, as students of a higher education system, need to be role models and show that tolerance and understanding can exist in a world too often subjugated to hate crimes and overall acts of violence.

More specifically, students should participate in an the Day of Silence event, which protests the silence faced daily by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their allies.

This event will begin at the Bay Tree Bookstore and last until Friday night, which will bring about the Night of Noise at the Cowell courtyard that allows those who have been silenced to speak out and tell their stories.

There is a need for change in our educational system to protect those who are LGBT, because currently schools cannot discriminate against students based upon race, color, national origin, religion, sex or disability, but not sexual orientation. The Student Nondiscrimination Act, which is currently being promoted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would help change this. The HRC’s and ACLU’s Web sites are currently organized so those who support the act can easily fill out a pre-made letter that can be sent to members of congress.

Our generation cannot be bogged down by technological advancements, and needs to continue to participate actively in social and civil changes in our nation. To combat the increase in active homophobia we need to actively go out and speak against it, and promote discourse and equality amongst all people despite beliefs, backgrounds, or sexual preferences.