The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Tomorrow is the National Day of Silence, the largest student-run action to end bullying and create safer schools for all, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Participants across the country take a vow of silence and only speak when necessary during the day to raise awareness about the problem of anti-LGBT bullying.

The first Day of Silence was organized in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia. A year later, nearly 100 colleges and universities participated. Last year, more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools, and universities participated nationwide.

This year students are choosing different ways to spread the word about the Day of Silence. Some are using Twitter to encourage people to participate. Others are wearing face masks with an "X" over the mouth to represent their silence or t-shirts with messages like, "Gay? Fine by me."

According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, almost 30 percent of youth in the U.S. are involved in bullying, either as a bully, a target of bullying, or both.

In recent years, numerous incidents of children committing suicide because of being bullied have made the news. On April 6, an 11-year-old boy named Carl Walker-Hoover hanged himself after enduring daily taunts of being gay and tormented by his peers. Hoover, who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 today.