Partners
Friday, April 18
Hutcherson plans protest of 'Day of Silence' at Mount Si
Ken Hutcherson has asked his "Prayer Warriors" to join him on April 25 as he stages a protest of the Day of Silence observance at Mount Si High School.
This is the message he sent to the Antioch Bible Church mailing list today:
Prayer Warriors, it's time to put on your knee pads and start praying! I am organizing a protest of Mt. Si High School and the Snoqualmie Valley School District. We will be protesting at Mt. Si High School on the Day of Silence, April 25 at 10:00 am. We have taken out a huge ad in the Snoqualmie Valley newspaper which will run next Wednesday. Please pray that over 1,000 people will participate.
Enough is enough. We have tried to work with the School District and they will not hear us. They will hear this protest. Pray it up! It's time to make a moral stand in our public schools.
We suppose, then, that the "moral stand" he speaks of is a stand in favor of bullying since Day of Silence is designed to help put a stop to that.
Related in Qnews: Right wing groups try to silence the Day of Silence (4/21)
According to the event website, the National Day of Silence, to be observed this year on April 25, "brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. This year’s event will be held in memory of Lawrence King, a California 8th-grader who was shot and killed Feb. 12 by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression."
Hutcherson has been engaged in an ongoing battle with the school where his daughter is enrolled ever since a teacher there gently protested his pro-discrimination stance during a talk he gave for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Protesting Day of Silence events has become a significant part of the broad anti-gay agenda. When a poster for the school's Gay-Straight Alliance appeared in a school hallway, Hutcherson declared to the Prayer Warrior list that it meant "war." Several expensive lawsuits have been filed against schools throughout the country to stop the observances.
And all that makes it worthwhile to post again the public service announcement made by Lance Bass and released today by GLSEN, the organization that supports Day of Silence observances.
-
What an opportunity for a silent counter-protest. Protesters could hold signs bearing the names, dates of death, and manner of death of people who were murdered because of their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
www.nofreetime.org/DOR_Names_2007.htm is a good start, at least for Trans names. *Warning: The bio information is presented in the first person (i.e. "I was murdered...").* Others are available simply through Googling.
I'll have to find out if the 4th Memorial Church here in Spokane is planning anything similar.
-
Thanks, Joe. Keep us informed about what's happening in Spokane. (Click 'Contact' link at upper left.) Or -- even better -- write your own post for our Qyou blog.
While it sometimes seems that Hutcherson overestimates his power and influence, this is the kind of thing he's probably been craving.
For a scary look at the attitudes about the Day of Silence from Hutch's Slavic homophobic cohorts check out this scary YouTube video from someone in Sacramento:
youtube.com/watch
The militaristic music accompanying the "hymn" isn't accidental.
One hopes that Hutcherson won't be able to recreate Sacramento's often toxic anti-gay spirit here, but we shouldn't count on it.
-
This just came in my e-mail:
From: neil@glsenwa.org [mailto:neil@glsenwa.org]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 5:44 PM
To: Friends of GSA
Subject: Re: Day of Silence
hey there...I just thought I'd let you know that GLSEN WA is planning on
holding a press conference at the snoqualmie library starting at 11:00 on
friday. We're inviting all who are in support of the GSA, especially
former students. We are not going to counter-protest, nor are we against
those who are....we don't want it to become a circus...especially since
what we are striving for is a safe learning environment for all students.
My number to reach me at is area code 206-330-2099.
Thank you guys so much for all of your support for the GSA,
Neil Lequia
GLSEN WA Youth Empowerment Director
-
enough is enough. this is supposed to be a safe place to learn and friday is the big protest. kids are scared to come to school and i think that Dr. Hutcherson needs to stop this is a high school. kids want to come and learn. if you dont like what we are learning then take your kids somewhere else. this is a PUBLIC school. so deal with it. its time to let it go. you want to make a difference, and i understand that, but this isnt the way. as a man of god you should love all people the way that god does. for who they are not how they are.
thank you
-
What seems most unfortunate about all this is that it seems to be parents and not students who are behind most of the protests -- including Hutcherson's.
As I reported in the related story, Hutcherson's protest is being held up as an example by at least one of the national groups advising parents to make their kids skip school on Friday.
seaqwa.com/.../right-wing-groups-try-to-silence-the-day-of-silence.aspx
I'm sure there are students in some places who are homophobic enough to be concerned (that's certainly the case among Hutcherson's allies in Sacramento). But the official complaints and protests of the observance are coming mostly from parents like Hutcherson. Read the comments in some of the newspaper articles linked to the post above and you'll find at least one or two where an adult insists that high school kids probably don't even know what "gay" or "lesbian" means. Sigh...
-
I am a student there and i am participating in the Day of Silence and i am straight. When Ken came to the school it was a chance for the controversy of Gay rights to be brought up at school and I belive that this is something that must be talked about and is the segregation of the present. People think back on segregation and think of what a bad thing it was i want it to be like that. This has become out of hand with the reverand and he needs to learn about his blind spot, when he came he said that he was teaching tolerance to all but he is not even practicing what he is preaching. He said that he was treated as almost 1/2 a human being, well how do you think the gays feel? This is a good thing to happen controversy needs to happen in order for this to be talked about and be solved quicker. What all of you have had to say is amazing and i want to be at the press conference but may not be able to attend i want these thing to be talked about and i hope that this gives rights to all gay, lesbian, bi, and transexual people of all ages and race.
-
Ken you are completely out of touch with how an educated adult should act....and you call yourself an extension of God, get serious. You have a personal agenda for select individuals and now you have your brainwashed cult thinking they should do this protest for the benefit of their community. Can't people be who they are without others judging them. Who care if someone is straight, or gay, or transgender - that's their choice - not yours to impose on them. Maybe you had a traumatic locker room experience and should see a therapist. All you did was scare the living hell out of 75% of the students and parents with your threats so they miss a day of school for fear of a shooting. The only knee pads needed are the ones you should be wearing to save you soul on judgment day - get it - judgment day, imagine the irony of that, and you'll be the main event! Oh, by the way, I'm straight and truly support freedom of choice in sexual preferences.
-
Right on Martha! Excellent point!
-
Martha hit the nail on the head. Hutcherson is not a doctor, is he thinking he's the next Dr. Martin Luther King? I have a dream, he needs to take a long walk off a short pier - there's plenty of us that will drive him there. I'd be mortified to be his daughter after all of this public display - I'm sure she's an outcast, or soon will be. Maybe there is a gay guy willing to take her to the prom she'll miss.
-
Here's a summary of and link to the Snoqualmie Valley Records story today about DOS at Mount Si:
seaqwa.com/.../day-of-silence-at-mount-si-likely-to-be-anything-but-quiet.aspx
I quoted Stephen Hannan's great comment above in that post.
Thanks for adding that Stephen. I really crystallizes the whole controversy. And good luck tomorrow to you and all your classmates. And thanks!
-
i just got turned on to this and i really want to participate somehow in the morning! growing up in the south and being the victim of constant harassment as a gay kid... i feel so passionate about this and want to show support! if anyone reads this and knows of how to get involved please post back! i am going to google and see what i can find. thanks everyone. wsg
-
I am a student at mt.si high school and id’ like to bring up a couple points.
1. why is he wasting his time? does he think by doing this the gay community is going to say oh you’re right and magically become un-gay? his efforts aren’t going to accomplish anything. do something worth while. send your “1000 prayer soldiers’ somewhere where they can make a difference. darfur?
2. if he doesn’t want gay people to have a ’special day’, take away black history month. ITS THE SAME THING. a time period set aside to recognize inequality of a group of people.
3. whether its in the bible or not, loving someone of the same sex isn’t illegal. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE! the inequality these people face is unconstitutional (14th amendment).
4. it is also in the bible that god loves EVERYONE and created EVERYONE. if he wanted us to all be the same then why did he make us so different?
just a thought.
-
I am a student at Mount Si High School, but I am not participating. I have chosen not to participate because I couldn't stop talking for a day, and that I think the way for me to protest against the bullying of gay students is to stop it when I see it. I don't care, homosexual, straight, black, white, tall, short... you don't bully someone. It's just wrong.
But I support the Day of Silence. We've come so far, at least at my school, that I haven't seen any racial bullying, and hardly any sexual harassment. When I see it, I make it stop, take names and report it. That's how I honor those who have been killed because of their sexual identity.
Personally, I don't think homosexuality is right, but that's me. No matter how much I go through this world, kicking and screaming, no one's going to listen to me and change their ways. Its not my job to change people; that's God's job. I'm just here to be a friend and to let people lean on me when they need someone.
I'm not at all threatened by the Day of Silence; I'm "sticking it to the man" and going to school tomorrow. But I will feel threatened by the people protesting outside of my school. I'm scared that I will get hurt because I'm not participating, but I'm going anyway. I REFUSE to be frightened out of my learning because some adults think its appropriate to stand outside of a school and freak teenagers out.
-
It is clear that Mr. H is using his authority to spread bigotry and hate. I equate him to Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, and the leaders of the Crusades. He is not a Christian. Real Christians are not threatened by the lives of others and love all equally. As Christian and pure as we may feel, we are all equal and all need to work on our imperfections in the eyes of God. We should spend less time judging others and work on being the change we wish to see in the world.
-
RIGHT ON KEN!!!! "Life after people"=homosexuality.
|