The Color Purple

Make a fashion statement against gay bullying

During the past month, more than a half-dozen teen suicides made front page news after it was discovered they took their lives after being bullied about their homosexuality. Asher Brown was a 13 year old who shot himself in Texas. Sean Walsh was a 13 year old in California who hung himself from a tree in his backyard. Billy Lucas, 15, hanged himself in Indiana. Raymond Chase, 19, hanged himself in his dorm room at Johnson & Wales. And most people have heard about Tyler Clementi, 18, who jumped to his death after his college roommate secretly streamed his sexual exploits online.

Gay teens are up to four times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens, according to a Youth Risk Survey last year. That’s why on Wednesday, Oct. 20, GLAAD is asking advocates to wear purple to show support for young LGBT teens, and to put an end to anti-gay bullying as part of Spirit Day. In the last few days, the campaign has saturated social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, attracting thousands of followers of all ages and sexual orientations.


“This event is not a seminar, nor is it a rally,” describes one Facebook event page with hundreds of followers. “There is no meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple.”

The idea for Spirit Day was created by a teenager, Brittany McMillan, earlier this month after news of the gay suicides touched off debate. She used Tumblr to send the message, asking friends to wear purple to commemorate the dead and to encourage other teens to seek help. In several interviews, she admits she was inspired by Spirit Week at her local high school, and wanted to encourage everyone to rally together to empower gay youth.

And the idea for purple? It symbolizes “spirit” on the rainbow flag, which was created more than 30 years ago as a symbol for LGBT pride by Gilbert Baker.

CNN recently covered the GLAAD and Facebook partnership, which has taken on a chain-letter-like frenzy in the past few days. “The page is currently functioning as a community memorial,” explained Andrew Noyes, public policy manager for Facebook.

Despite the huge swell of fans who have joined Spirit Day, there have also been plenty of dissenters. Noyes, during an interview with CNN, said hate speech has been removed from the fan pages thanks to the site’s new anti-gay bullying policy. Facebook also offers tips for students, parents and teachers about what to do to stop bullying, both online and off.

The Trevor Project has also been an ongoing lifeline for young LGBT teens at risk, as has columnist Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” video campaign which has inspired celebrities and non-celebrities to share their own “coming out” stories all over the world on YouTube. And at Outfest in Philadelphia last week, dozens of local gays and lesbians recorded messages that are also being shared online.