Life in quarantine has changed many activities planned by LGBTQ+ youth groups, but it hasn’t slowed them down. At St. John’s School, a private K-12 school in Houston, Texas, student Matthew Yekell is helping to organize an online forum on queerphobia; a strategy session for improving conditions for queer students; an online queer history and trivia night; and an open mic night on Zoom.

And all that is just for Day of Silence on April 24 — which this year will be anything but silent.

Annual Day of Silence events began 25 years ago as a means to bring attention to the silencing effects of homophobia. In 1996, over a hundred University of Virginia students participated in the first event, for which they took a one-day vow of silence; over the year that followed, college LGBTQ+ groups collaborated on a program that could be replicated nationwide. In its second year, over a hundred school campuses joined in, and the idea continued to spread. Now, over 10,000 students register to participate in the Day of Silence every year.

For a while, various homophobic groups including Focus on the Family created counter-protests called “Day of Truth” and later “Day of Dialogue” that encouraged students to spread “pray away the gay” rhetoric.

But these days, conservatives seem to have abandoned that effort. The website for the Day of Dialogue hasn’t been updated since 2018, and still features recommendations that are incompatable with quarantine, such as holding lunch meetings and inviting ex-gay speakers to their school.

“Quarantine has, in effect, silenced many youth,” said high school student Jessica Chiriboga. “For them, instead of a couple hours of ‘silence’ when they come home, they are feeling this 24 hours a day."

Day of Silence, on the other hand, remains a vital opportunity for students to advocate for better learning environments. According to research by GLSEN, which coordinates many Day of Silence events, around 80% of students see no positive LGBTQ+ representation in their curriculum. A similar amount experience anti-LGBTQ+ verbal harassment, and over a third miss school for feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.

“By participating in the Day of Silence, LGBTQ students like me are advocating for our community and building a more inclusive future for all young people,” wrote New York high school student Chris Staley in a statement provided by GLSEN. “This year, we’re using social media, creating artwork, hosting virtual rallies and encouraging our family and friends to join us as we fight for our rights and representation.”

The quarantine has required organizers to rapidly shift their plans.

“We start planning Day of Silence in November, December,” said a.t. Furuya, GLSEN Youth Programs Manager. “This one being the 25th anniversary, we were like, ‘we’re going to go big, we’re going to have bicoastal rallies.’ … We were in the process of planning all of that, and then it was like, yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

GLSEN staff began discussions about their top priority — ensuring students’ safety — before mandated “shelter in place” orders started rolling out in response to COVID-19 outbreaks. At that point, planned 25th anniversary events were slightly more than a month away.