The battle between these groups occurs at nearly every Pride Parade, political advancement for the LGBT community and more often just on a regular day attending school. In a National School Climate Survey distributed in 2005, four out of five LGBT students reported verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school and more than thirty-percent report missing at least one day of school in a month for fear of personal safety, explained on the DOS website.
Despite over one-hundred vigils across the country there is little media attention on hate crimes against the LGBT community. Recent attacks serve as a rallying cry for the need to address anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. The dispute between those supporting an LGBT lifestyle and those opposing it has been a serious social debate throughout the last decade. It increased during George W. Bush’s Presidential term as a few states began to allow Civil Unions, which are similar to marriage and given the same legal rights.
Concordia Professor, Kimberly Knutsen, explained how poetry reflects life in many aspects. She compared negative space used as a resting place in poetry to the breaks in a person’s day required for them to simply catch their breath. “We are scared of silence because it is unknown…In poetry we need silence as much as words just like in life because, we need silence to be close to God,” Knutsen exclaimed, “Truth is in silence.”
To continue reading ... Day of Silence or Truth?
