Day of Silence was started by two college students in the 90s as a way to protest the ongoing discrimination LGBTQ people were facing. Every second Friday of April, students would go the entire day without speaking, and end the day with “Breaking the Silence” ceremonies to bring awareness of queer identities to their communities.
However, in 2024, the name was changed to A Day of (No) Silence in opposition to the growing erasure of LGBTQIA+ people and the lack of recognition of their message. The “No” was put into parentheses so the name wasn’t confused with a different event and to allow students to continue the long-standing tradition of taking vow of silence.
In support of this queer commemoration, Paschal’s GSA Club sponsor, Ms. Shannon and the members of the GSA set up their own way of celebrating on April 4, 2025.
This year, the members of Paschal’s GSA worked together to make sure their voices were heard as they stood outside of the cafeteria, offering passerbys Dum-Dum lollipops with short messages about acceptance all tied together with rainbow string. They were also able to use leftover queer stickers and pins from previous years as gifts.
The time to show the presence and support of queer people is now, considering the constantly relevant topic of LGBTQIA+ people. Since the start of 2025, the U.S. has introduced over 570+ anti-LGBTQ bills, of which only 16% have been defeated so far. Texas is home to 88 bills, taking the crown for the largest number of anti-queer legislation.
Greg Abbott, the current governor of Texas is one of many politicians that have sided with more conservative views about LGBTQ topics, such as gender affirming care, gender alterations on IDs, gay marriage, and free expression of one’s gender and/or sexuality in school.
“I mean, Greg Abbott literally said any teacher who recognizes LGBTQIA students [will be] fired,” states Ms. Shannon.
This is a common worry for teachers across the country as their support for all of their students is a threat to their job security. Because these teachers welcome an accepting environment for their students, the safety of the kids and faculty are being called into question.
Despite the seemingly constant attacks on queer presences in communities, the stats stand for themselves. “There [are] statistics about how much more likely someone who’s in [an accepting] community is to feel safe and supported if they are in a school where there’s organizations like a GSA.” Ms. Shannon affirms.
Paschal’s GSA broke free of that persecution, largely thanks to FWISD’s open support for the queer community, standing by their non-discrimination policy that “prohibits discrimination, including harassment against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, or any other basis prohibited by law.”
Ms. Shannon and Pachal’s GSA members are defended by the district to affirm the existence of queer students, and they will not be backing down anytime soon. Always remember to be your authentic self.
