On April 16th, a loud silence will be felt throughout many schools, colleges and universities around the nation. What is now known as the National Day of Silence began 13 years ago at the University of Virginia. Over 150 students participated in using silence as a form of peaceful protest to draw attention to the bullying and violence directed at LGBT students. The number of participants has dramatically increased since then. The Day of Silence website reports, "In 2008, hundreds of thousands of students from more than 8,000 K-12 schools, colleges and universities organized Day of Silence events." - via Lambda Center
