ABC News Site Celebrates School Gay 'Day of Silence'

LGBT advocates celebrate a "National Day of Silence" in schools on April 20 sponsored by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which supplied Team Obama with "safe schools czar" Kevin Jennings. Openly gay MSNBC daytime anchor Thomas Roberts made a supportive video for GLSEN's Day.

On Friday, ABCNews.com joined in the liberal day of politics with a photo essay titled "National Day of Silence: Portraits of Out and Proud LGBT Young Athletes."  The featured photographer was Jeff Sheng, who was also celebrated in an ABC News webcast when Charles Gibson was anchor. It's featured on Sheng's website fearlesscampustour.org. Sheng's photos were also celebrated at ESPN, Sheng explained:

So far, the project has been seen at over forty college and high school campuses around the United States, as well as ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, and the 2009 International LGBT Human Rights conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.  This past February, “Fearless” was exhibited at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and in October, was part of Nike World Headquarter’s Coming Out Week diversity programming.

At ABCNews.com, blogger Deana Thompson supportively wrote:

Today, thousands of students around the United States are falling quiet.  Participating in National Day of Silence, they hope to raise awareness to the continued harassment and discrimination faced by many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Photographer Jeff Sheng has been documenting openly gay LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) high school and college athletes since 2003. It is an ongoing project that is very close to his heart...

Sheng said the reaction to his projects has been positive. He finds most of his subjects through word of mouth and social networking sites on the Internet.  He travels the country visiting high schools and universities sharing his project and continuing to photograph new subjects. He believes high school kids may not have realized they could be on sports teams or in classes with kids who are LGBT. “It makes them a bit more introspective, maybe watch their language a little bit,” he said. Sheng recalled how a college student told him that he had visited her high school a few years prior and that his project inspired her, made her more confident and helped her to come out. “That was really amazing,” he said.

Of course, ABC proves they're a liberal network by having no opposing viewpoint -- even to argue that social conservatives can disagree with homosexuality without engaging in bullying and ridicule. That would apparently be hateful to consider including.