Students signed a "We Are Not Afraid" poster. (Tim Lee/Photo Editor)

PRISM members and their allies gathered to “Break the Silence” with an outdoor concert in the Alumni Grove at 5 p.m. on The National Day of Silence on Friday April 15. The day began as a serious reflection on the bitterness of homophobia and ended with a lighthearted outdoor celebration, which persisted despite rainy weather.

Students organized the first Day of Silence at the University of Virginia in 1996. According to tradition, PRISM members and their allies, heterosexual students that support the LGBT community, spent hours before 5 p.m. in silence, offering their friends and teachers notes explaining their silence.

Meanwhile, chalk writing on the sidewalk scrolled words of hate directed against the LGBT community and a space on the main floor of Brower Student Center, featuring several empty cafeteria tables, was blocked off with caution tape to represent the many students that stay home from school for fear of bullying based on their perceived sexual orientation. Students walked around campus wearing black t-shirts scrolled with red writing on the front and the back: “Fuck this/the silence ends here,” “End the silence/Gay is not a crime,” and “What will you do/to break the silence.”

“(The National Day of Silence) is the one day when we truly call attention to the silence that people face because of homophobia and make people aware of the fact that they need to speak out for the next 364 days of the year,” said PRISM president Liz Ehret, junior fine arts major.

However, the laughter, music and refreshments in Alumni Grove showcased another, more light and hopeful side of the day.

A “We Are Not Afraid” poster was proudly displayed on one table. It was covered with supportive student signatures that had been amassed over the course of the day at a table PRISM set up in the Student Center. According to PRISM member and sophomore art education major Pam Rotter, the sign gets more and more signatures every year.

“It’s at the point where we’re joking that we need a bigger sign now,” said Greg Boyle, junior music education major, who organized the event. “I

Members of PRISM were stationed in Brower Student Center with stories hanging around their necks, highlighting instances of homophobic related abuse. (Tim Lee/Photo Editor)

see a lot of hope for the future. Our generation doesn’t have the same biases and there are so many more steps to be taken, but the steps we have taken are so great.”

He highlighted the legal side as the new focus of the LGBT tolerance movement — gay marriage, recognition on the census and adoption rights.

“I hope next year even more people come out and I personally thank everyone for coming out and showing me that (the College) is an accepting campus,” Boyle said.

“I think our biggest issue is the excessive apathy among the campus environment,” Ehret said. “There’s an unwillingness to take ownership of issues. A lot of students don’t seem to feel that they can make a difference so they don’t even try.”

Freshman finance major Brittany Sykes, who is not a member of PRISM, was one of the allies on campus who joined the silence and wore a shirt in support.

“People noticed the shirt, so they would look,” she said. “But no one that didn’t know me came up to me and talked … People need to know so they can put a stop to (discrimination) and change can come.”

“I feel that it’s a matter of education, not a matter of getting mad at them,” said freshman English major Mike Dalpe. “I’ve gotten most of my floor to stop saying ‘that’s so gay.’ I’ve actually gotten my roommate to stop saying ‘that’s so—’ and then, he says ‘stupid.’ … There’s no reason to say something like that. In other words it makes them look ignorant.”

Attic, a band composed of current students and alumni, played at the event, singing upbeat pop and hip-hop songs and attracting a lot of attention to the gathering.

As the rain fell harder a few members of PRISM and their allies gathered closely under a rainbow-colored umbrella, shivering and laughing as the lead singer of Attic gave a speech about “a world without hate.” He then launched into a rendition of “We will make it through the rain,” followed by the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

“It’s okay to be gay. It’s okay to be straight,” Boyle said. “But we can all make the same music.”