“In order to be in Core Council, you need to be out,” said Javors, who
identifies as queer and lesbian. “And not everyone is out. People are
still afraid. We need our own club to offer support, but we can’t even
get funding or meet as a group because of group sanctions from student
activities. It’s a bitter cycle.”

Those frustrations also apply
to planning for the demonstration, for which organizers have relied on
social networking because their unofficial group is barred from
on-campus advertising. The GLBT Resource Center of Michiana in the
nearby town of South Bend has offered help, in addition to the
encouragement from supportive faculty members.

The demonstration
is scheduled to begin at noon on Wednesday outside the gates of Notre
Dame. Participants are expected to stand in silence, with tape covering
their mouths similar to the NOH8 campaign, to represent the dearth of
productive conversation about LGBT issues on campus.

Javors, a
Catholic by birth who recently converted to the Episcopal Church, said
the organizers hope not to provoke Catholics, but to show that religion
and equality are compatible.

“If the biggest name in Catholic
universities, the most conservative Catholic university, can accept and
take in a healthy discussion, then it opens the door for a lot more gay
Catholics to come out and realize that they are equal in the eyes of
God,” she said.