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Thursday, April 19, 2012

National Day of Silence: A Texas Legislative History

Tomorrow is the National Day of Silence, an annual day of protest where High School and College Students pledge to be silent for a day to draw attention to the persecution of LGBT students.

Every session the Texas House and Senate pass resolutions recognizing events in Texas, from Rose Festivals to Pharmacy Day. The resolutions don’t do anything; they’re just a nice way for lawmakers to recognize events in the community.

In 2005 (The same year that the Texas version of the “Defense of Marriage Act” passed) State Rep. Garnett Coleman (D-Houston) introduced House Resolution 1162, recognizing the National Day of Silence. HR 1162 would not have required Texas schools or universities to recognize the day of silence in anyway, nor would it have compelled anyone to participate. It simply recognized that the day existed as a way to bring attention to issues facing LGBT students.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Rules and Resolutions and was never heard from again, effectively silencing the Day of Silence resolution.

No word on when the Legislature will recognize “Irony Day”.

This post appeared in a different form on legislativequeery.com on April 15, 2010

1 comment:

  1. It looks like this is a day that students have the option to recognize or not. It will be interesting to see how many students will participate.

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