Noise ...Mosh Pit Return to City Hall

By Greg Leiher

Wednesday night April 18th Commissioner Sam ramped up the decibel level at City Hall when he hosted the Metro area Gay Straight Alliances for their Night of Noise in the south atrium. ... And the event lived up to its name! .... Fueled by the spirited "Monster-Sized Monsters," the assembled youth reached a high-octane level shortly after Sam's welcome and maintained its energy for the rest of the evening. "Hurrah Hurrah" added to the momentum with intermittent (but supervised) mosh pit action. ....

The Night followed the national Day of Silence which aims to bring attention to anti-gay bullying, harassment and discrmination in schools. Participating students and their allies are quiet all day to protest their being silenced by an atmosphere of discrimination that does not allow them to be who they are. .... A project of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), the Day of Silence is in its 11th year and is one of the largest student-led actions in the country.

Some things we know from GLSEN's National School Climate Survey in 2005 should not surprise us, but should be highlighted:

75% of students in public schools report regularly hearing homophobic remarks in their schools.
only 16.5% reported that teachers or staff intervened when they heard this language.
furthermore, 18.6% of students report hearing homophobic remarks from teachers or staff themselves.
74.2% of students felt unsafe at school (29% actually reported missing at least a day of school in the past month out of fear for their personal safety).
and 37.8% reported being physically harassed.

The good news is that .... the Portland Metro GSA Network estimates that there are about 40 GSA's in the Metro area .... and that many of these choose to participate in the Day of Silence, even when they encounter resistance or protest. .... There is also a Statewide GSA Network that helps bring youth together who are working toward change in their schools. .... Youth has taken on new leadership roles including helping make the Night of Noise happen. .... We have also seen the reviving of GSA groups throughout the area, such as Jefferson High School and soon Mollala High School. .... GSA youth have sold over 1,000 bracelets from the Matthew Shepard Foundation as part of a campaign called "Erase Hate."

So, what this says is that, while progress is being made, we should not rest until all students feel safe at school from anti-LGBTQ harassment and discrimination ... and until teachers and staff support this effort overwhelmingly. .... While this past Monday's shooting massacre at Virginia Tech underlines how difficult it is to guarantee school security in an open society, we can at least strive to eliminate anti-gay bias and discrimination from our school communities.