Paly’s Gay-Straight Alliance members are pleased with the addition of short fourth period presentations to the Day of Silence, which students observed on Tuesday at Paly.

“A lot of the criticism in past years was that some people felt that minority groups such as the LGBTQ community should speak up instead of being silent,” senior GSA president Alex Rose-Henig said. “Our goal this year was to combine the two.”

In each presentation, one presenter described the meaning behind Day of Silence, while a partner sat quietly.

“It was kind of like we were a prop,” said one of the presenters, junior Macy Stewart. “But I think that it was really for the presentation to have more of an impact.”

Some students who heard the presentations were unclear as to why some participants broke their silence to deliver presentations, according to Stewart.

“What people do not understand is that Day of Silence is our choice,” Stewart said. “We can do it for a minute, a period, all day, and we can suspend it if we want. The fact that people do not understand that shows that they really do not understand the meaning.”

According to Rose-Henig, about 70 students participated in Day of Silence at Paly.

The National Day of Silence is actually on Friday, but because school will not be in session, Paly held the event on Tuesday.

“We are remembering individuals who suffered because of the silence they lived in,” said Rose-Henig. “But at the same time we are combating the intolerance that leads to silence.”

“When people try to get you to talk and you just sit there, using every fiber of your being to not tell them to shut up, it pisses them off,” Stewart said. “Whether people realize it or not, silence does have a powerful sound.”

The point of Day of Silence is to demonstrate the ever-present silence that the LBGTQ community faces, according to Rose-Henig. To do this, the day begins at 7:30 a.m. when participants gather and then scream.

“It’s our hope to educate and show what we have to deal with, and I think that to some extent it works,” Rose-Henig said.