Members of AACC’s Gay-Straight Alliance club participated in the national Day of Silence in support of LGBTQ rights on April 12.

The silent student demonstration began in the SUN dining hall before moving outside to be more visible to the greater campus community.

According to GLSEN.org, “GLSEN’s Day of Silence, on April 12th 2019, is a student-led national event where folks take a vow of silence to highlight the silencing and erasure of LGBTQ people.”

This year’s event coincides with the day the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members goes into effect.

GSA members wore decorative tape over their mouths and t-shirts and signs bearing messages of support for LGBTQ youth who often face bullying in schools.

GSA president Garrett Hutchinson carried a sign that bore a personal message, “I’m silent b/c I know words can HURT and I forgive those who taught me.”

The signs and shirts spoke words expressing support and comfort to AACC’s LGBTQ community from their peers in the gay-straight alliance.

Each sign also bore a flyer explaining the event and citing a statistic: “4 in 5 LGBTQ students don’t see positive LGBTQ representation in their curriculum, 8 in 10 experience anti-LGBTQ verbal harassment and over a third miss school for feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.”

The flyers also offered information for those who want to support the cause: “Join me by texting SILENCE to 21333 or visiting glsen.org/dayofsilence.”

Finally, the flyers asked observers to do what the GSA students could not, “Think about the voices you are not hearing. What are you doing to break the silence?”

Their silent protest represented the GSA’s goal to not only focus on LGBTQ history but to collaborate more with the AACC community to bring about awareness and change.