In countless schools around the country, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people often struggle to be accepted. In order to support the LGBT community, HMHS students gathered at the Night of Noise on Tuesday, April 12th. There was a warm and accepting atmosphere that night in the HMHS library, while students honored the LGBT community with fantastic musical performances and dramatic poetry readings. Several teachers and students gave inspirational speeches about the challenges of being lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or gay, and told touching stories about their friends or relatives that identified as LGBT. These speakers emphasized that it is important accept others for who they are and impressed upon the listeners that differences are good. At the Night of Noise, students were given the opportunity to express their care and concern for LGBT people. Mairead Goodfellow, a freshman at HMHS, enjoyed supporting the LGBT community at this celebration. She believes that the Night of Noise “is important because it supports the LGBT community”, describing how “everyone there was either a part of it or a supporter of it.”

Many students who attended the Night of Noise also participated in the Day of Silence. On Wednesday, April 13th, HMHS students chose not to speak for an entire day in order to show respect towards lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people, who feel as if their voices are silenced. Participating students hung fluorescent pink badges on strings around their necks, which indicated that the students would not be speaking out of respect for the LGBT community. Caity Lally, an HMHS student who participated in the Day of Silence, explained, “It is nice to represent others that you support or are like you, and it’s cool because you have an excuse for not talking for the whole day.” For the most part, the participants were successful at remaining silent; however, their effort to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people was greatly appreciated, even if they did not manage to be silent for the entire day.

During the Night of Noise and the Day of Silence, the school embarked itself onto the journey towards gender equality and promoted acceptance of the LGBT community. HMHS staff and students encourage upcoming freshman and current high school students to participate in the Night of Noise and the Day of Silence. It is a fun experience for students to perform and celebrate their differences.