Letters | Day of Silence should honor a different group: The veterans

Published 8:08 am Monday, May 14, 2012

Last year, our United States Congress passed a law making it legal for gay and lesbian individuals to serve openly in the United States Armed Forces.

Also, a couple of months ago, the Washington State Legislature passed a law making same-sex marriages legal here in Washington State.

So, isn’t it time for all of our state’s public high schools to discontinue the annual Day of Silence events they’ve been conducting to show emphathy for gay and lesbian individuals, especially since some individuals are indicating these Day of Silence events are now meant to “honor and pay tribute to gay and lesbian individuals” just for being silent about their sexual preferences?

Or better yet, maybe our state legislature should pass a new law requiring that these annual Day of Silence events in our public high schools be used to “honor and pay tribute to our nation’s wounded warriors”, many of whom often spend the remainder of their lives suffering in silence due to the terrible wounds they sustained while serving all of us?

After all, our current state law just requires a one-hour Veterans Day assembly for all veterans instead of a full day of observance.

Jim Curtis

North Bend