Yesterday we held a demonstration of support for the LGBTQ community on campus and the initiative to establish a resource center. Despite the rains and wind, we had a good group of people show up. Chuck Dunning, one of our supporters, was able to come up with words to capture the event. (Something I’m still not sure how to do.) His words are posted below.
Never lose your passion. Always respond with love,
Skye
Preface: On April 17th, 2009, many students, faculty and staff at TCU participated in the Day of Silence (DOS). The DOS is a national youth movement that draws attention to LGBTQ people and their allies who have been silenced by name-calling, harassment, and bullying. That forced silence can be as simple as a fearful hesitation to speak one’s true thoughts or feelings, or it can be as severe as the permanent silence of those who have died from murder or suicide. One of the ways some of us took action on this DOS was to join in a silent march across campus organized by Iris Reaction. This march was a peaceful demonstration of support for all LGBTQ people at TCU who do not yet feel completely free to speak and act according to the realities of their sexual and gender orientations. We were also expressing our faith that TCU continues in its progress to serve LGBTQ people through various means. The two poems I wrote on that day were shaped by the ominous weather we experienced. The rain and lightning were severe that morning, which inspired “Day of Silence Rains,” because to me it felt like Nature was speaking for all who were silent that day. The winds began to pick up as the time for the march drew near, and some of us wondered if we were still going through with it. I’m happy to say our resolve held true, and “the march” is a portrait of the experience.
Day of Silence Rains
on this Day of Silence
the rain fails in thick gray blankets,
liquid veils of mourning
descending upon the face of Liberty
a secret torture in the atmosphere,
hidden lightning rips the sky
and thunder shakes the earth,
shuddering sobs in the breast of Love
it’s too much to grasp
that every drop from these clouds
is matched by a tear from the eyes
of a wrongly despised child of God
The March
walking to the gathering place,
the rain blew hard against us,
asking if this is what we really wanted,
and we answered yes, yes, yes,
with each leaning step forward,
with each eager little leap
over muddy puddles and streams,
reminding us of the confusion,
miscommunicatiion and fear
that we were there to heal
then we marched with the wind,
its impatient hand pushing at our backs,
its frustration blowing in sharp gusts,
yet we were patient in our silence,
proceeding slow as a death march,
an incongruous display of colors
calling for others to awaken to the moment,
to take heed of this movement
and join in calming the storm
of derision and hate
raised high above the passing rainbow banner,
the standards of country, state and school,
cracking, popping and ripping,
were torn at the edges by nature’s will,
rent like veils before a sanctuary too long denied,
and dead limbs were torn from the trees
as if a few old bones of intolerance
were falling to their musty rest,
and the noon bells tolled as they always do,
though ringing in our hearts anew
standing at the porch of institutional power,
we waited as two carried iris flowers,
symbols of valor, faith and wisdom
into the comfortable bastion of tradition,
mindful of all who feel the chill
of being unwelcome and left out,
yet even then the winds were changing
and the rain subsiding to a drizzle,
like the world was quieting itself to listen
for the whispered promises of hope
and finally our trek ended
on the brow of common ground
where we planted tiny fluttering flags,
more than the number of hands
reaching down to root them in the earth,
yet not nearly as many as those
who were not there in the flesh
but were themselves each removed
in some more hallowed plot,
though present in the silence of our hearts
Posted by irisreaction 
