Ajax students speak out against homophobia with silence

"It's a pretty neat environment during the day, there is a hush that overpowers any negative voices that might be out there," said Erin Crawford, teacher at Ajax who organized the event with another teacher, Tory Bedard. Full Story here.

Think Youth Ministry covered The Day of Silence for an entire week. Read our Day of Silence Week in Review I remember my mother would always say, "silence is golden." I don't think she was thinking of this type of silence. Silence that was making a point, as a picture is worth a thousand words, the Day of Silence was worth more. Students and many others participated on Friday, April 17, 2009.  The Day of Silence is a national youth event which protests how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are not always welcome to speak out about who they are due to harassment, prejudice and discrimination. I would strongly recommend that youth ministries across Canada consider participating in The Day of Silence 2010. If you have any doubts or thoughts of concern, make sure that you read Brian Pengelly's articles: The Truth About The Day of Silence and What to do on the Day of Silence. As youth workers we cannot continue to run in our own circles of events, programs and causes. We need to step out and show people that we care LOVE them with our actions before our words. We need to lead by example and even our lives need to be balanced. Otherwise, we will end up with a hole in our good news. As youth workers we can become stuck in the way we are doing things, trying to be pleasing to our students wants, parents needs for their kids and the political powers that will give us job security. It's time that we became fearless on what God desires for our lives and ministries and not to fear others. It's time for us to grow up and lead. Here's a story that is worth more than a thousand words:

11-Year-Old Hangs Himself after Enduring Daily Anti-Gay Bullying

Carl Walker-Hoover took his life on April 6th after enduring constant bullying, including anti-LGBT bullying. Though Carl did not identify as gay, his story is a tragic reminder that anti-LGBT bullying and harassment affects all students. Carl would have turned 12 on the Day of Silence. Full Story Here

The Day of Silence: 4.16.10