Last week Peter Geddeis, the director of student activities at Lyons Township High School, sent the entire staff and faculty an email in which he said the following (emphasis added):

On Friday, April 15, a number of our students will be participating in the National Day of Silence, sponsored by our PRISM (gay-straight alliance) club. On this day you will see some students wearing rainbow ribbons, Day of Silence t-shirts, and/or mainly black clothing. These students will not be speaking all day as they take a day-long vow of silence to echo the silence endured by LGBTA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allies…. Please understand and be respectful toward students who choose not to speak on this day.

Students participating in the Day of Silence must attend an orientation session this week or next, which will explain clearly the expectations of the day. These students will receive Day of Silence buttons, which will denote their participation in this year’s event. Student participants will remain silent all day, including in class and in social situations, so please honor their choice to remain silent as best you can. However, these students will be informed that if a teacher or other staff member insists they answer a question, be part of a discussion, or engage in conversation, they should do so – this is a day of awareness, not defiance.

PRISM has prepared a short piece that teachers can read to their classes prior to the Day of Silence….

I know that with the cooperation of the students and staff, the Day of Silence will again be a success. If you have any questions, please contact me or Gail White (PRISM Sponsor).

Mr. Geddeis was careful and deliberate with his rhetoric. Although he does tell staff and faculty that students will be informed that if asked to speak, “they should do so,” he phrased it in a manipulative way. He said if teachers or staff members “insist,” which, as a friend points out, puts the burden on teachers to insist. What would “insisting” involve? Repeatedly asking? Demanding in an authoritarian way? Threatening disciplinary action?

Mr. Geddeis also told staff and faculty that they should “be respectful toward students who choose not to speak on this day,” and to “honor their choice to remain silent.” Someone needs to ask Mr. Geddeis and his administration, how exactly teachers would demonstrate respect for and honor students’ refusal to speak. How does Mr. Geddeis think teachers can demonstrate respect for and honor students’ refusal to speak other than allowing them to refuse to speak?

This email was intended to manipulate staff and faculty into allowing student silence and to instill fear in those teachers who “insist” that students participate verbally in class. Sounds like rhetorical bullying to me. It would be far better for the school environment for Mr. Geddeis to support teachers who want to depoliticize their classroom by eliminating controversial political action.

What Mr. Geddeis should have told staff and faculty is that according to the ACLU and the homosexual activist law firm Lambda Legal students have no Constitutional or legal right to refuse to speak during class. And in his email to staff, Geddeis should have said the following:

These students will be informed that if a teacher or other staff member asks them a question, or to be part of a discussion, of to engage in a conversation, they should do so. Students have also been told that they have no Constitutional or legal right to refuse to speak during class. Finally, students have been told that they should respect and honor teachers’ decisions to expect student participation in class.

As of Monday, April 11th, the Day of Silence provided a link to a Gay-Straight Alliances Facebook page which in turn has a link to “photos” with additional links. A visit to this page reveals how little the Day of Silence has to do with bullying and how much it has to do with affirming and celebrating deviant sexuality.

One link is a photo of five young, shirtless Thai men that takes students to this website: HERE.

Another seven links take students to this website (warning: extremely graphic material): HERE.

According to the Day of Silence website, “hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence,” and yet many school administrators claim the Day of Silence is not disruptive. For those who naively believe that the Day of Silence is not disruptive to the classroom, here are some comments from students posted online (printed as posted):

Lexie LoveGood: Last year while doing this one of my lab teachers wanted to make me talk. and i refued to speak he wrote me up. the kids in my lab booed him and said it was my right not to speake the 1st am may state freedom of speach but it also gives me the right not speak. the kids fought with thier voices so i could not be broken. my write up slip was tore up and thrown away.

Ziah Von Heyneman: I remember when I was in High School I went through the same thing. Most of my teachers wanted me to talk but I wouldn’t so they just sent me outside. I did report them the next day to the principle but he didn’t do anything. The only teachers who loved what I was part taking in were my art teacher and stage craft teacher.

Brandin Arsenault: I’m going to organize an event at my school, and get as many people (Middle School: Grade 5-7) to participate.

Many parents have no idea that the Day of Silence takes place annually in their children’s classrooms. Parents are also unaware of how many students, teachers, and administrators dread the Day of Silence. Even as administrators feel compelled to say that the Day of Silence is not disruptive, some — perhaps many — privately know that it is and dislike the disruption and controversy it creates. Even many teachers who hold politically liberal views on the nature and morality of homosexuality dislike the Day of Silence because they simply want to teach their subject matter without having to contend with students’ refusal to speak or with political controversies.

The instigator of the Day of Silence and other homosexuality-affirming days is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN’s central goal is not to end bullying. Its central goal is to transform the moral beliefs of the nation’s children through our public schools. Parents must oppose the politicization of public education, or its exploitation by homosexual activist organizations like GLSEN will continue to grow.

Call your children out of school on the Day of Silence if your administration allows students and/or teachers to refuse to speak in class. In most schools the Day of Silence is being held this Friday, April 15. And while you’re at it, you might ask for copies of any emails that were sent to staff and faculty regarding the Day of Silence and forward them to me.

Click HERE to learn more about the Day of Silence Walkout.