Students at a high school in Canton, Ohio responded to the lead-up to today's national Day of Silence to end bullying and harassment with a hateful, homophobic flyer. Day of Silence is a movement started by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN. In an op-ed for the Advocate, GLSEN’s Camille Beredjick described the Day of Silence as “a student-powered action to raise awareness of anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling, and harassment. To participate, students vow to be silent for an entire school day, symbolizing the all-too-common silencing of LGBT youth that happens in our schools on a daily basis.”
But during Canton South High School's "diversity week" this week some members of the student body posted an incredibly hateful flyer.
Disappointing highlights from this flyer include “dress like a girl (only if you’re a girl) and dress like a boy (only if you’re a boy) to promote procreation and see to it that the population does not go extinct because of the LGBTQ community!” and “you don’t get to decide which sex you are.”
The flyer also introduces a “day of sound”, which condemns homosexuality and the push to have it viewed as “normal.”
According to WOIO 19 Action News, the principal of Canton South High School admitted that the flyers weren’t authorized, but did not state whether or not the students behind the flyer were disciplined in any way.
We commend the students of Canton South for their diversity week and hope they were able to participate in the Day of Silence without being subject to homophobic and transphobic bullying beyond this poster.
