San Francisco, CA

Students at South San Francisco High School faced homophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist graffiti as they arrived at school to observe the Day of Silence, a national day-long protest against the harassment and bullying of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning students.

The San Francisco high school was covered in hate-messages including “white power” slogans and anti-gay slurs.

Local police said that the vandalism was the work of “one or two current or former students.”¹

Wednesday, April 18th marked the 11th Annual Day of Silence, which was originally sponsored and is currently supported by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that seeks “to help create safer schools for all regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”²

The Day of Silence began at the University of Virginia in 1996, and has since spread to more than 4,000 middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country.³

In response to the growing popularity of the Day of Silence movement, the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative religious group, launched the “Day of Truth” three years ago.

According to that group, the “Day of Truth,” which takes place the day after the Day of Silence, was established “to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.”⁴

In California, students went forward with plans to observe the Day of Silence despite the hate-filled graffiti.

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