For a day that drew so much noise last year, the 2009 Day of Silence passed on a quieter note last Friday, April 19, at Mount Si High School.

Opponents and supporters approached this year with delicacy and caution in an effort to avoid the controversy of last year’s event, which drew protesters and counter-protesters.

The atmosphere inside the school was calm as around 120 students participated in the Day of Silence. Several police officers were in the school during the day.

While the day was quieter than last year, the controversy it created this year showed that homosexuality remains a contentious issue in Snoqualmie Valley. After school on Friday, one student found a homophobic message scratched on his car.

Students who are not straight often feel that they have to hide part of themselves from their friends and family, according to Chris Holtzman, Mount Si’s only openly gay student.

“I know my options are either don’t talk about it or be made into a carnival freak show,” the senior said.

Instead of protesting this year, opponents encouraged parents to keep their children home from school on the Day of Silence. During the day, students agree to not speak — except when necessary in class — to raise awareness of discrimination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered youth. More than 6,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges participated in the event, according to the Gay-Lesbian-Straight Education Network.

Opponents claim that it disrupts education and is a protest, which would break school policy. Supporters counter that it is a student-organized event which does not affect education and is not a protest.

Around 25 percent of the students were absent for the Day of Silence, April 17, according to Randy Taylor, Mount Si High School’s principal.

Last year, 47 percent of students were absent.

Encouraging absenteeism is “blatantly inappropriate,” Taylor said.

Calls for skipping school came from a local group led by the Rev. Ken Hutcherson — a parent at Mount Si High School and prominent opponent of gay rights.

Hutcherson has accused the school board of being out of step with parents in the Valley, many of whom, he claims, oppose the Day of Silence.

The board had said it would not get involved with the Day of Silence, because it is a student-organized event and does not disrupt the classroom.

“They just let us know we can’t trust them,” Hutcherson said. “We want our kids educated, not indoctrinated.”

Despite the event’s enduring controversy, harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered students has declined at Mount Si.

“There’s also been a qualitative improvement,” said Caitlyn Donnelly, a member of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, which organized the event.

Since the Day of Silence began four years ago, slurs, such as ‘fag’, are heard less often around Mount Si, and there is greater tolerance of different lifestyles, she said.

Reported incidents of harassment “will be dealt with harshly,” Taylor said.

However, few incidents are reported, according to several students.

There were only two reported cases each during the 2007-08 and 2006-07 school years.

After school on Friday, Zac Pearlstein, a junior who participated in the Day of Silence, found “Zac likes men” scratched on his truck at school.

Some teachers see the problem as coming from outside the school.

“Honestly, from what I’ve seen, I think some of the students act more mature than the community,” said Bryce Meserve, an art teacher at Mount Si High School.

Opponents say their objections to the event have nothing to do with gay rights. However, several students participating in it disagreed.

“If it was for any other cause, they’d keep their mouth shut,” said Tyler Kirk, a senior at Mount Si. Keeping silent, he wrote his response down on a sheet of paper.

“They want to cause a disruption in order to prove Day of Silence is a disruption,” said Leigh Macaulay, a senior.

“Silence hurts their ears,” she added.

The organizers have worked to address opponents’ criticisms of the event, such as requiring students to talk in class and disallowing teachers to participate.

“We’ve walked on egg shells to remove those criticisms, and they want to create a disturbance and blame it on us,” Donnelly said.

It is not clear how many of the absent students were not in school because they were protesting the Day of Silence. One student’s status on Facebook said he was looking forward to a three-day weekend. Advanced placement classes seemed to have fewer missing students.

• Additional reporting provided by Sean Byrnes and Julie Censullo.