Pride flag for the National Day of Silence. Photo by National Today.
The second Friday of April is a day represented to bring awareness towards the harassment and discrimination people of the LGBTQIA+ community annually. Otherwise known as the Day of Silence, this day is used as a day to bring light to the experiences within the LGBTQIA+ community.
While it may not seem obvious at first, there are many reasons as to why awareness needs to be brought into the public eye for the community. For instance, while gay marriage is now legalized in the United States, it still is not legalized in many parts of the world. Another example is many people in the LGBTQIA+ community experience discrimination and face hate speech at some point in their lives. Though these are only two examples, there are plenty more reasons as to why this day is important.
The Day of Silence started in 1996, starting off as a one time event at the University of Virginia. In the following year, 1997, almost 100 other colleges joined in and caused the Day of Silence to be national. Ever since then, the day has been recognized as a national holiday. While the Day of Silence started off by focusing on schools, particularly colleges and universities, it has spread far out to many other places not relating to education.
In part of the Day of Silence, Lake Land College (LLC) will be holding a research study regarding LGBTQIA+ student’s experiences at the college. Kim Hunter, who is the Director of Student Success Services, and Katie Parrish, a sociology instructor here at LLC, will be hosting the event. All of the interviews are anonymous and confidential.
The reasoning for this research study is quite simple, there are not many studies regarding LGBTQIA+ college students in rural areas. As stated by Kim Hunter, “Rural areas are less studied when it comes to the LGBTQIA+ community and resources available. This is especially true of community colleges in rural areas.” The hosts of this research study wish to bring more perspective towards these students to understand what programs, like “Safe With Me” and “Safe Zone,” at LLC are working and what needs more improvement.
If you would like to participate in this research study, email Kim Hunter at [email protected] or come visit the tutoring center and set up an interview with Kim there.
