The Gay Men’s Choir of Washington is coming to AHS. The AHS Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) is sponsoring the event which will be held on April 12, in the auditorium. In order to attend, students must be in good standing and fill out the signup sheet, located in T-6.
“We got the idea of having a concert from going to their winter concerts,” sophomore and club president Todd Le said.
The choir is performing two to three songs and then engaging in an open discussion about acceptance and diversity.
“The reason we are doing this discussion and the concert is to get people more interested in the issue and to draw more attention to the Day of Silence,” sponsor Bethany Slingerland said.
The GSA has worked alongside the choir for three years. The club’s members attended the fall and winter concerts for free. The choir holds many events throughout the months and have an upcoming concert called “Side by Side” on Apr. 20 at the Church of Epiphany.
“We have worked along with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington for past three years and they have always been very supportive of our GSA, and they have always given us free tickets to their shows and we have great communications with them,” Slingerland said.
This performance is the initiating event for the National Day of Silence. On April 11, the club will begin signing up and selling ribbons for the event. The National Day of Silence is a day where students across the country abstain from speaking to draw attention to silenced and bullied LGBT students.
The Day of Silence began at the University of Virginia in 1996. From there, more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities around the country began holding the event.
“I hope the impact of the concert helps raise an awareness in terms of acceptance,” Le said.
