shout out today: tomorrow is a day of silence.

A few weeks ago Rabbi Jason Klein volunteered his time to lead an interesting conversation with young people participating in the 15th Annual National LGBTQQI Jewish Student Conference (NUJLS) at Brandeis University. He asked the students to talk about a powerful moment in their lives via the voice of someone else. Maybe by default or maybe by the specific interest of the topics covered at the conference each of the students volunteered to talk about their Coming Out stories as LGBTQI.

These two to three-minute stories presented themselves powerfully. One of the students spoke about their experience of participating in The Day of Silence at their Jewish High School. On the Day of Silence students take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. This student mentioned how important support around the Day of Silence was in trying to understand how to navigate their next steps in coming out to themselves.

Tomorrow is this Annual Day of Silence. Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of middle schools, high schools and colleges will be participating in this day of direct LGBTQ action. You can help young people learn about themselves, their friends and their community by being an advocate for this day of action. Here are a few details to share with young people in your life:

• Hey! What is a GSA? Where is my GSA?
• Day of Silence is over. Now what?
• Registered for the Day of Silence? Be Counted.
• Get organized! Get ready! Day of Silence is near!
• Day of Silence: Resources for Educators & Families
• GLSEN’s 2011 Day of Silence on Facebook