Day of Silence

Anyone who saw me around campus a couple of Tuesdays ago probably noticed that I could not greet them because of the strip of duct tape gluing my mouth shut. Written on this piece of tape in black Sharpie was the simple message, “HOMOSEXUALS ARE HUMAN BEINGS.” I tried not to be obnoxious, but if anyone asked me about the tape, I would hand them a flyer like the one I have reproduced below:

Homosexuals are Human Beings.

These 4 words are more important than most of the other things that I say in a typical 24-hour period, which is why I have taped them to my mouth as a way of participating in the 13th annual Day of Silence, a national student protest aimed at ending the persecution of homosexuals in our communities by breaking the silence of those who can help stop it.
The official Day of Silence took place on Friday, April 17th, but I chose to participate today since I do not attend any classes on Fridays. I have also chosen to observe a 24-hour fast and to spend the day meditating and praying for my homosexual friends and for the Church, who has often treated them so poorly. These actions are not enough, but they are a place to begin.
I do not yet fully know how my Christianity should shape the way that I treat homosexuals and the way that I think about homosexuality, but you can help me find out by joining the facebook group “What I would have said (I think)…” or by reading my blog at www.spirit-spark.blogspot.com. Please add to the conversations there, and help break the silence!

The reactions that I got were interesting and varied, but first:

The Funny Stuff:

1. It turns out that your body is pre-programmed to inhale a large amount of air through the mouth before you sneeze. When your mouth is taped shut, you end up doing this weird, slow intake of breath through the nose before sneezing without the customary “Achoo!” sound. Then everyone in the Stanley Theological Reading Room looks at you funny.

2. All those movies where someone is tied up with their mouth taped shut for days on end are dumb. I had to reapply at least every two hours. Toward the end, I started to notice a slight stickiness on my teeth. I don’t know if this was plaque or duct tape glue, and I don’t know which is more disgusting.

3. Whenever I fast, I crave fast food all day long. Against my better judgment, I chose to break my fast at midnight with a Muchaco and some MexiDips & Chips from Taco Bueno. It was a bad idea.

4. I am so out of shape (see #3) that I start breathing heavier than normal after climbing three flights of stairs in the Administration Building. When you have tape on your mouth, it is hard to breathe heavily. And now…

The Serious Stuff:

Some people looked at me and rolled their eyes. Others attempted to poke fun playfully. Most avoided eye contact all together or pretended like I wasn’t there. A very few people, such as David Ayres, walked with me between classes, cracked jokes, and treated me like a friend as if everything was normal. In many ways, this experience mirrors a small fraction of what homosexuals go through every day, only they don’t get to take the tape off because it’s part of who they are. How do you treat them? Do you roll your eyes, poke fun, avoid eye contact altogether, or seek them out as friends? Or are you the one with a scarlet letter taped to the front of your mouth?

I don’t want to be too judgmental. If someone I know had tried this a few weeks ago, I certainly wouldn’t have been a David Ayres. I probably would have slipped into the “avoid eye-contact altogether” category. My freshman year of high school, my geography teacher had us give a journal to someone who would be traveling soon so that they could write in it and then pass it off to someone they met abroad. The idea was to have each person give it to someone else, preferably in such a way that the journal crossed as many borders as possible before the last one mailed it back to you before the end of school. At some point the journal fell into the hands of a student at a university in Wisconsin who spent the last fourth of the letter telling me about the situation in Tibet under Chinese control. I remember how uncomfortable that made me, but now I wonder why. I knew and still know little to nothing about the situation in Tibet, but I do know that she understands the situation much better than I have ever cared to research, and I also know that if it is as she described, then there is no debate that the people of Tibet have been wronged. The only reason I can figure why this girl made me so nervous is my preconception of a dirty northern liberal and all the nasty, unchristian things associated with it.

The weirdest thing is that there are now people who must see me in the same way. Everyone that I know personally believes that homosexuals are human beings, yet many of them were uncomfortable with this demonstration. Why? I’m guessing that these were some of the questions that ran through people’s heads that day: Doesn’t he believe in the authority of Scripture? Is HE a homosexual? Doesn’t he realize that there are more important things to protest? What difference will this make? Isn’t he a hypocrite for contributing to class discussions and singing in choir today? Does he condone unrepentant sexual immorality?

It’s interesting that so many questions can arise from one simple statement that we all agree on. I have no doubt that my actions were misinterpreted on that day, but I have news for every Christian who is remaining silent about this issue: your inaction is being misinterpreted as well. According to an often-cited poll (most famously represented in the book unChristian), the primary phrase that American young adults associate with the word “Christian” is “anti-homosexual”, with “judgmental”, “hypocritical”, “too political”, “unintellectual”, and “sheltered” bringing up the rear. When I first started helping out with a neighborhood walking program, people would answer the door with a cigarette in one hand and then quickly thrust that hand behind their backs as soon as they realized that we were from a church. I thought for awhile about doing something sort of gimmicky (much like the duct tape stunt) to overcome this barrier to true relationship. Perhaps I could have shown up one Sunday wearing a Budweiser tee-shirt. I never got around to any such stunt, but over time, these people grew comfortable with smoking in our presence because of our consistent visits and the absence of any judgmental glances. Perhaps there is no need for protests or “gimmicks”, but you’d better be sure that you are doing something rather than nothing, because the default perception of Christians these days isn’t so good. The good news is that it only takes one exception to break the stereotype in a given person’s head.

The Sunday after I observed this Day of Silence, I attended the baptism of an openly gay student from ACU. Whatever people may assume about me and my beliefs because of this action, I will not apologize. In this instance, the assumptions that would have arisen from my inaction are far worse than those that might have arisen from my action. More importantly, I needed to be there to support a friend who loves Jesus Christ.

If my actions confuse you and you seek clarification, post on this blog, send me an email, or speak to me in private. I have spoken as best I can, and nothing new will happen unless you break the silence.

Joshua