QASO uses silence to speak out

By Nikolina Hatton

The Queers and Allies Student Organization (QASO) set up a table in the Main Mall and encouraged students and teachers to participate in the national Day of Silence Wednesday at the Health and Wellness Fair.

The purpose of the event was to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students, Becky Gish, one of the advisers for the QASO club, said.

She knew for sure MHCC took part last year, and thought they had probably participated in years before as well.
The event was started in 1996 at the University of Virginia with about 150 students participating.

In 1997 it became a national event and spread to almost 100 colleges, Gish said. Then in 1998 they included high schools.

Last year almost 4,000 schools and 450,000 students were involved.

“The ideal way to recognize it is to be silent,” Gish said.

The event is meant to recognize the silence of GLBT students and how they are silenced from telling their stories.
Students may have seen people with stickers identifying them with participation in the event.

Asked what the event meant to him, Cody Bakken, a gay QASO member, said, “If we can organize, we can make anything happen. We can make silence happen.”
He continued by saying, “Those of us who can need to speak out by being silent.”
QASO encouraged teachers to get involved by having a moment of silence in their classrooms, showing a film or discussing the day.

Bakken said Gresham High School has had a lot of trouble with sexual orientation harassment.

According to Bakken, they were doing something for the event Wednesday.
He said Joe Fisher, vice president of student life at MHCC, wears a sticker every year for the event.

Both Bakken and Gish said they really wouldn’t be able to tell how many were involved.
The event is particularly important to Bakken.

“I don’t want to feel guilty when I kiss my boyfriend in public,” Bakken said, “and I don’t want to feel guilty talking to his parents. I shouldn’t have to.”