Painting the town purple
Police, politicians, schools and universities have backed this week鈥檚 Wear It Purple Day to raise awareness of young LGBTI people and suicide.
On Friday, September 7, people are being urged to add some purple to their outfits to spread the group鈥檚 key message, 鈥榶ou have the right to be proud of who you are鈥�.
Fifteen NSW schools have signed up to host Wear It Purple events this year, up from an estimated six schools in 2011.
NSW Police and Wear It Purple volunteers will be heading into schools to talk with students and staff about the day.
Nationals MLC Trevor Khan and Labor MLC Penny Sharpe have already shown their support for the day, having attending last week鈥檚 pre-launch event.
On Tuesday, Sharpe put forward a motion to the NSW Upper House calling for the state鈥檚 politicians to acknowledge the group鈥檚 achievements.
While the motion had not passed at the time of publication, it congratulated the group for its efforts to raise awareness around homophobic and transphobic bullying.
Wear It Purple spokeswoman Jayde Ellis, 22, told the Star Observer that this year鈥檚 event had received an unprecedented level of support.
鈥淲e recognise there are so many places that young people are faced with discrimination, vilification and feel isolated,鈥� Ellis said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we aim to do this further than just social media.
鈥淣ow we鈥檙e expanding into schools and into the wider community because we are aware it happens all too often and so many young people are still isolated.鈥�
The campaign began in 2010 after a spate of young LGBTI people took their own lives in the US due to homophobic abuse.
Wear It Purple began in Sydney, Australia but has expanded overseas and is now observed in the US and New Zealand.
鈥淚t started really just to create awareness about bullying and sexuality and diversity,鈥� Ellis said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e expanded since then into creating a much larger awareness day aiming for different parts of the community.鈥�
National youth mental health foundation, – which has 40 centres throughout Australia catering to people aged 12-25 – has fully endorsed the day and said if young LGBTI people need support, they could receive it from organisations like its own.
鈥淩esearch tells us that same-sex attracted young people are six times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers,鈥� a headspace spokeswoman told Star Observer.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 because of their sexuality but because of social pressures associated with it, like homophobic bullying.鈥�
The Star Observer also supports Wear It Purple Day and has changed its regular pink colour scheme to purple for this week.
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