By Eliza Ridgeway

Local high school students celebrated the 10th annual Day of Silence April 26 by keeping their mouths shut. Throughout the day, students respectfully remained silent while wearing a note explaining their choice. The day is intended to bring attention to groups who have been silenced in the United States, particularly homosexual and transgender communities.

“In the U.S. the voice is always emphasized, particularly the political voice - the vote. But the political voice starts out with the literal voice, with talking about an issue,” junior Julie Ershadi said.

She and about 20 other Los Altos High School students, many of them members of the school’s Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA), participated in the day.

Ershadi said students sometimes find themselves in the role of educators when it comes to issues affecting the homosexual, bisexual, transgender, transsexual or identity-questioning communities.

“My mother asked me, ‘Why do you need to be in GSA? I don’t understand,’” sophomore Maivy Nguyen said. “I told her that (gay students) need support from everyone to make change happen.”

Nguyen said that while the high school is a fairly tolerant place, gay students still suffer. She said graffiti on gay students’ cars occurs, and many students use offensive language, including pejorative slang words for gays, or the phrase “that’s gay” to indicate something negative.

“As someone who serves the students of Los Altos, I can say that discrimination and hate do happen to them,” said Shannon Turk, director of Outlet, the Community Health Awareness Council’s program for gay and questioning youth.

“The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community isn’t trying to be in everybody’s face - they’re trying to let the rest of the world know that they don’t have all the same rights that everybody else does,” Turk said.

The Los Altos High School GSA has received a lot of community and media attention for its denied request for a citywide pride day. Students have been invited to serve as grand marshals for the San Jose pride parade, march in the San Francisco pride parade and attend the San Jose Symphony en masse.

“Sometimes I feel bad about being gay. I participate in order to try to get over that feeling, and to feel proud of what I am, because other people are proud of me,” Ershadi said. “That’s what gay pride is about - let kids who can’t speak out, or join the GSA, know that someone out there loves them and supports them.”