For more than 10 hours Wednesday, education junior Natasha Smith was silent.

She didn't speak, she didn't laugh. She wandered down to the Red Cedar River to feed the fish, but didn't make a sound.

Smith censored herself in support of The Day of Silence, a national campaign that aims to bring attention to the bullying, harassment and discrimination of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender students in schools.

The first Day of Silence was in 1996 at the University of Virginia. On Wednesday, students at MSU and on 711 other campuses zipped their lips to represent victims of harassment.

"The national Day of Silence symbolizes the silencing of the LBGT community through heterosexism, genderism and oppression," said Brent Bilodeau, the director of the LBGT Resource Center.

Smith responded to questions in notes, writing that not all passers-by were pleasant about taking Day of Silence fliers.

"I got one that said, 'I'm not taking that unless you talk,'" she wrote.

Participants of the day felt the public was nicer than they had been in previous years. East Lansing resident Amy Crandall remembered one passer-by's response.

"She said, 'You're going to hell. I'm not taking your flier,'" Crandall said.

In 1997, the day went national. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSN, and U.S. Student Association, or USSA, began to sponsor the event in 2001. GLSN primarily oversees LBGT students in middle and high schools, and USSA works with college-aged students. The organizations focus on education being a right and not a privilege.

The silence serves as a metaphor of the experiences of the LBGT community today and throughout history, said Daryl Presgraves, GLSN's media relations associate. They are forced to conceal who they are because of harassment and bullying.

Following the event, participants came together to "break the silence" by speaking out on the occurrences throughout the day.

"When they break the silence, it's a celebration," Presgraves said. "The day is to bring awareness to the importance that all students feel safe at school."

During the group discussion, Lauron Kehrer, co-president of PRIDE, MSU's West Circle LBGT group, spoke of one experience she had with a heterosexual couple. After handing them the flier, she felt mixed emotions.

"It was great, but I wasn't convinced they were aware of their own heterosexual privilege," said Kehrer, a music performance junior.

Scott Lu, USSA's campus diversity project director, said he has seen an increase in institutional homophobia and heterosexism.

"The LGBT community can't learn if they don't feel safe on campus," Lu said.

The LBGT community and its allies are harassed on a pervasive basis, Presgraves said.

"It is disturbing to see how many are silent and how many it affects," Lu said.

Food science sophomore Zack Everett said he came out during his freshman year at MSU. Coming from a conservative town, paired with his Catholic school, Everett's only outlet into the gay community was the media.

"All I had was what was on TV, which was MTV. And that's not much," Everett said.

With the help of campus LBGT clubs and resources, Everett was able to learn more about what it truly was to be part of the gay community in the U.S., he said.

"Part of that is to know how important it is to do events like this," he said. "We're not just 'Queer Eye' on TV."

The day let Everett express his self-awareness to others.

"It's important to let everyone know I'm a human, too," Everett said.