[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10485]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL DAY OF SILENCE

  (Mr. FARR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in observance of National Day 
of Silence.
  Last Friday, April 17, marked the 13th annual National Day of 
Silence, a day where students throughout the country follow in the 
footsteps of the great civil rights advocates like Mahatma Gandhi and 
spend the day in civil disobedience. These students remain silent for 
one day to bring attention to and highlight the discrimination some of 
their peers endure by speaking out about sexual orientation and their 
personal gender identity.
  When asked to explain why they will participate in a National Day of 
Silence, some of the young people in my district said, ``We stand up 
and stand out by not speaking out on that day.''
  The Day of Silence is a day to acknowledge the roads already traveled 
and the ones soon to be traveled to show how far we have come and how 
much further we have to go. The Day of Silence brings attention to the 
oppression that queer youth face from their peers and their classroom, 
and is a reminder that we still have much work to do.
  I commend all my constituents who observe the Day of Silence. Though 
the nationally observed Day of Silence has passed this year, I would 
ask my colleagues to take a moment of silence today to reflect what we 
can do for our LGBT youth to make their lives better, to make their 
schools safer, and to end discrimination.

                          ____________________