Breaking the Silence rally brings attention to challenges faced by gay teens

Gay pride teens arrive at the Town Clock downtown for a rally Friday evening. (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)SANTA CRUZ - You might be able to talk, but can you really speak?

If you're gay, lesbian, transgendered, intersex or questioning your sexuality - and you're young - maybe not. So, do you stay quiet, instead of talking about it or living in the open out of fear of harm or ridicule?

Several dozen youth and their allies came together Friday at the Santa Cruz Town Clock to rally for ending the silence society has long demanded of people who love differently than others. Many had remained silent all day to honor the struggle of young people like eighth-grader Lawrence King, the 15-year-old Oxnard boy who was shot and killed by a classmate in February after acknowledging in school that he was gay.

"People are people and love is love," said Nick Jacque, coordinator of Breaking the Silence, an event organized by the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. "It's that simple."

The rally is a jump-start for today's 11th annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards, which honor efforts to keep schools safe from sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. The awards are sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Task Force for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex and Questioning Youth.

Considering LGBTQI people often report first acknowledging their sexual orientation during their youth, the coalition of youngsters and straight allies said Santa Cruz must continue to be a place where youth can come out as themselves safely. But advocates say work still needs to be done to educate young people not to intimidate or harass peers based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or even a perception about those qualities.

"There is a huge silence of queer people in schools that needs to be addressed," said Jacob Breslow, a UC Santa Cruz junior who works to build bridges of support between the LGBT community on campus and those in secondary schools.

Sarananda Osheim, a 17-year-old Harbor High senior who will win an award Saturday, wrote with a marker during morning classes instead of talking. When she didn't respond to teachers or friends, they looked at her puzzled until they read her accompanying card that explained why she was staying silent.

Besides fighting to end violence against queer youth, she said students needed to see how disrespectful language is embedded in culture, like when people say, "That's so gay."

"It educated a lot of people," Osheim said. "They kind of learn from it."

Laurel Stern, a 16-year-old Santa Cruz High student and leadership award winner, said she wore tape over her mouth all day with one word written on it: "Queer." The specter of the looks she received was powerful, but only because she knew she was living out "my private self, in one word."

"No one should have to feel that isolated," she said. "Only when we begin to speak out... can we begin to end intolerance."

Vice Mayor Cynthia Mathews joined school board president Cynthia Hawthorne in voicing the city's support for the youth's efforts. "Until it's safe for everyone, no matter who you are, it's not safe for anyone," Hawthorne said.

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