So today you are supposed to be wearing purple to celebrate Spirit Day, in honor of the fallen gay teens and other bullying victims out there. If you work in a sales office, you could wear a purple Paul Smith button down. If you work at a construction yard, a purple T-shirt and matching socks would do. If you are a college student, well, leave the purple headband at home. That one is for the hipsters. But why are days like this important?
Nope, donning the color of royals won’t save a kid’s life. Not today, anyhow.
But it’s a conversation starter. It’s an education tool. Kids and adults will wonder why they are seeing crowds of people dressed in the same hue. They’ll ask a passer-by what it’s all about. And you’ll have 30 or 60 seconds to share the stories of dead gay teens, and how homophobia will only lead to more deaths, and maybe one small thing each of us can (tell your friend his gay jokes aren’t funny, for example) do to create a culture of acceptance.
Personally, I’ll be most impressed with young people going to school today decked out in purple — and explaining to their adult parents and teachers why they’re dressing for gays today.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Barney would be so proud……….
Avenger
Purple is an ugly color for clothes.
ewe
Purple is a FABULOUS color that promotes light, love and celebration.
FNV
Wear purple today and everyone will know who’s gay.
ewe
@FNV: wear purple today and those who are informed will know who is not a bigoted homophobe.
Hyhybt
@ewe: Not really. It’s not the most common color, but people *do* wear it anyway, and many (probably most) people either didn’t know about this when getting dressed or forgot… and I remember enough times from school wearing, on football days, the colors of the opposing team by coincidence.
You can’t tell the reverse, either, for much the same reason, and because some people (me) don’t even own any purple clothing.
But it does give a strong hint 🙂
Lawrence
I wish I had some purple clothing to wear…
btw Queerty I wish you would give coverage to the gay character on Stargate Universe…It is quite possible the most normal role ever played – I just wish we could have more characters that show LGBT people as normal people…
kevinVancouver
yeah purple will not really affect much change I do agree, but it could start the dialogue as suggested in article above, as for the lame comments, what a bunch of fuckin negative nellies for fuck sakes u do know that homo loathing breeders do frequent these sites and would love to see the negativity amongst our ranks… but then again it could be those very people leaving those fuckin stupid comments..
peace
tripper
its like DoS w/out the effort!
Michael C.
@Avenger: and since you’re an ugly excuse for a human being, you should be covered in it.
j
I wore purple today 🙂
DR
Today needs to be the start of a dialogue, not jumping on a bandwagon to “show your support” and forget about the issue tomorrow.
That’s the real test. Will this dialogue continue or fade away?
Rick Gold
It is a meaningless, hollow gesture that smacks of self-serving motives that are designed to assuage the guilt of those who stood by and did nothing.
Instead of wearing purple, SPEAK UP when you see bullying or discrimination happening.
There is a special place in hell for anyone that wears purple today for the wrong reason.
Meher Zaman
I’m in high school and I’m wearing purple!!! Purple is a very fierce and fabulous color.
joe
@Rick Gold
Agreed. Self-serving and self-congratulatory meaningless wanktivism.
That said, I’m wearing purple for some reason.
ewe
@Hyhybt: I am talking about Spirit Day, not just any day.
AdonisOfFire
I have purple eyes, does that count?
Hyhybt
@ewe: I know that. My comment did not even hint that I did not know that. What then, exactly, are you trying to say by telling me so?
kirby7771
@Rick Gold: sweetie, you can do both. love to you
mconyc08
I wore purple today and had absolutely no idea we were supposed to do so until I read this post!!! 😀
merkin
Im just curious if anyone who wore purple today got into a discussion with someone about gay bullying (and not another gay person). How would someone even know you were wearing purple for a special reason?! Its laziness disguised as activism–like changing your middle name on Facebook to “Equality.”
You really want to get active? Become a Big Brother or Big Sister. VOlunteer at the Ali Forney Center (or other youth LGBT center). Oh but those take time a dedication. Ill just wear a certain color T shirt.
alan brickman
I was constantly bullied by gays in school..what color should i wear for that….
Joe
@Merkin …. Good for you if you actually have time to volunteer at those places but some of us are in school full time and when we’re not in school, are working almost full time just to pay for it and make ends meet. And yes in fact I did get into a discussion today about the reason behind wearing purple with one of my coworkers and a friend who are both against equality but at least it started a conversation. Just because you don’t happen to see the benefit behind an action doesn’t mean it has no merit. You have no idea how close these suicides hit to home, and they probably have a large effect on you too. I do what I can with the little time and money I have to help the young gay people I know who are both out and completely struggling in the closet. And today that took the form of wearing a purple shirt, and contrary to what you think it meant something.
~R~
@merkin: I actually did. It got brought up in class and there was some misinformation (Is this about that college kid that killed himself?) which I gladly cleared up. You see it was sad when it was just him but when i mentioned the other 5 who killed themselves, all within the last month, well it sent the classroom into a buzz. Whether is sticks remains to be seen… but yea, I got to do some ‘splainin’.
~R~
@Joe: Yes! I agree 100%. We all contribute in what ways we can even if those ways are not to the satisfaction of some other people… cuz, face it… you can’t please everybody.
ewe
@Hyhybt: Try reading comment NO. 5 and then go elsewhere with your Badditude please.
Anthony
@Joe: Right on point, couldn’t agree more.
i do everything in my power to show support. from being a shoulder to friends, speaking in sex ed classes in colleges, donating what little money i can, and yes… wearing a purple shirt. i am a full time student, working full time to pay my way through. i don’t have enough spare time to make it down to the gym all 4 days a week that i am supposed to, i barely have enough time to do all my homework and i sure as hell don’t have enough time to volunteer anywhere… but i have time to show a little solidarity, a little compassion, and a little support by wearing a certain color. sometimes it’s the little things that matter the most. and yes, i did have an intense conversation about the matter today, a few of them actually. you can’t expect to change the world in a day, but you can at least help start the conversations that will lead the way.
instead of commenting with the negativity, why don’t we just do everything we can as individuals to get to our community goals? i never understand people that come on here and talk negatively about means that will have such positive outcomes. do what you can do, i will do what i can… and sooner or later we will meet up along the road to correcting our society.
Lauren
I know I wore purple that day. I was stoked to have participated in this. I’m a straight female but was lucky to be raised with TWO uncles that mean the world to me. I had it on my Facebook and some people I knew, wore different hues. It was so nice but hardly anyone did it from what I saw. All that matters is that I participated and so did others and some in spirit.
Lauren
Oh and yeah, I wish I could do more volunteering. I’m in school as well. However, I have to quit to work so hopefully I can take up volunteering on my days off. That’d be great.