* TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The student union at Florida State University may be quieter Wednesday.
At least organizers with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Union hope so.
That’s because the FSU group is, for the first time, uniting with other schools across the country to commemorate the National Day of Silence, a day when many gays and lesbians take a nine-hour vow of silence.
Marlene Bowles, the director of FSU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Union, estimated 25 people on campus will take the pledge.
“The premise of the day is that our silence symbolizes the silence that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people have suffered throughout the year in order to avoid harassment and judgment and other forms of intolerance,” the 20-year-old FSU junior said.
The first Day of Silence happened in 1996 at the University of Virginia, and the event has been spreading to other college campuses – and to some high schools and middle schools – ever since.

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