DAY OF SILENCE CREATES FLAP AT HOOVER HIGH
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
April 25 2008
GLENDALE – Hoover High School teacher Nareg Keshishian didn’t expect
to have to give a speech on tolerance to the school’s senior class
this week – at the same time students were busy planning events
marking the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
But Keshishian said he felt he had no choice when teachers heard
growing buzz that dozens of students might skip school today to
protest an event designed to spread a message of tolerance toward
students with different sexual orientations.
Hate and fear toward gay, lesbian and transgender people, Keshishian
cautioned students, is no different than feelings that have led to
deadly persecution around the world throughout history.
"The first step toward genocide is the dehumanization of the
victim. When you dehumanize any group, you’re guilty of aiding in
that first step," Keshishian said.
"I’m disappointed that students wouldn’t make that connection on
their own, but when you’re talking about the gay community, people
don’t see them as a minority, sadly."
The flap at Hoover High began after some local cable- access shows
implied that by attending school on the "National Day of Silence"
today, students would be supporting a "homosexual agenda."
But the issues at the Glendale school are just a microcosm
of an aggressive national campaign to protest the 12th annual
event. Coalitions including the American Family Association are urging
parents not to send their students to school on what they are calling a
"pro-homosexual day of silence."
AFA officials could not be reached for comment Thursday. But some
local parents said they think schools aren’t the place for airing
such views on homosexuality.
While Naira Khachatrian said her children will attend school today,
she’s also called the district to complain.
She also spoke at the Glendale Unified board meeting Thursday night
to share her concerns, including the passing out of fliers promoting
the event on Glendale High’s campus.
"I am a parent and I have rights and I am responsible for what happens
at the school. It’s not a national day of silence, it’s a gay and
lesbian day of silence," she said.
Glendale Unified sent e-mails and called about 10,000 parents Tuesday
to note that while the district didn’t endorse the event, it also
doesn’t tolerate name-calling, bullying or harassment at its schools.
Los Angeles Unified schools also are holding events to mark the day,
but officials said they had not heard of any plans to urge an organized
student boycott of school today.
The heated opposition to the event has surprised some organizers,
particularly coming after the fatal shooting earlier this year of
Lawrence King, a 15-year-old gay student in Oxnard. Police said
King was shot and killed at school by a 14-year-old classmate in a
premeditated hate crime.
"It’s very unbelievable. You wonder how they can come up with some of
the things they’re coming up with because it’s a day about bullying
and they’re trying to turn it into something no one understands,"
said Daryl Presgraves, spokesman for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network, the national sponsor of the Day of Silence.
Still, hundreds of thousands of students at more than 6,500 schools
across the country are expected to participate in the day’s events,
Presgraves said.
Lidia Castillo, a senior at Miguel Contreras Learning Center,
organized the school’s Day of Silence events and encouraged more than
900 students to participate – more than 60 percent of the student body.
But other students said they don’t support the event.
Hoover High senior Jano Boghossian said that while he supports Yellow
Ribbon week – which promotes nonviolence – he doesn’t believe in the
National Day of Silence.
"Leaving school on Friday to make the point that you’re against it
is giving the (gay and lesbian) club too much power and influence,
and putting my education on hold for a day just to protest this is
not worth it," the 17-year-old said.
Psychologist Elizabeth A. Say said opposition to such an event may
be rooted primarily in fear.
"Here’s the sadness. They are convinced that they are doing
what’s morally right, and in their perspective … they believe the
responsible thing to do is not to show tolerance," said Say, dean of
the college of humanities at California State University, Northridge.
"It is this kind of reactionary position that says the only way to
respond is to actively organize against it."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
