Students 'silent' in support of gay rights

A gathering of students "came out" Wednesday at the University of Utah, officially breaking the silence after a day of closing their mouths in support of the campus' gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

Dozens of students wore red ribbons and many took a vow of silence in an effort to protest what they call the "silencing" through discrimination and harassment experienced by homosexual students and their allies.

"It's time to stand up. We need to be out there promoting our rights," said 21-year-old sophomore Brint Ashton.

Ashton was silent for five hours, responding to those who spoke to him by handing out cards which read in part, "My deliberate silence echoes the silence caused by harassment, prejudice and discrimination."

Ashton said the experience gave him a "feeling of solidarity" with those who approached him, especially minorities.

Other students who participated said they got responses ranging from odd looks to "cool" or "rad." One student's reaction to the protest was, "Can't we have one day when we don't hear anything about gays?"

Ruth Hackford-Peer, program coordinator for the U's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, said the students on more than 600 campuses nationwide participated in the day of silence.

"The day of silence is a sobering reminder of what happens when we allow ourselves to be erased," said Michael Mitchell, executive director of Equality Utah. "In the silence of the closet we are shut out of the most basic protections. . . . A fearful life is not a joyful life."

Mitchell said Utah law allows gays and lesbians to be fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation and prevents same-sex couples from having the same legal protection as straight couples.

He urged the students to actively become part of a grass-roots effort and go door-to-door in an effort to stop a proposal that would extend the state's legal ban on same-sex marriages to the Utah constitution.

Voters will decide the measure this November.

"Equal rights should never be voted on," Mitchell said. "This is about discrimination."

Amendment sponsor Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, said in a telephone interview that the issue is not one of civil rights. "The constitutional amendment is right morally, legally and constitutionally."

"Marriage is the moral sanction of society on the relationship," he said. "The question is whether society wants to sanction same-sex relations."