Purple: Spirit Day!

Purple: Spirit Day is officially observed on the third Thursday of October, annually. This posting entry is offered in anticipation of the official observance!

On the Progress Rainbow Pride flag, the colour of purple at the bottom of the original rainbow field of six stripes represents the ideal of spirit. The colour also denotes pride and is considered a calming colour. It also connects us to the spiritual realm. For a great many of us, this is symbolic of our reflective nature and signifies the soul of the GLBTQ+ quest for our equality and freedom. In the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth, purple is a royal colour and often is representative of the Crown.

Purple: Spirit Day is an annual anti-bullying, anti-coercion date that is held during National Bullying Prevention Month. It is particularly focused combatting damaging or threatening behaviour based on a person’s perceived or real same gender loving status. The Stonewall Inn Riots (SIR) of 1969 and the National Coming Out Day observance that commenced on October 11, 1988, reduced the suicide rate among the GLBTQ+ community and culture but it was never completely eradicated as a cause, even with the millennial transition.

A significant increase in GLBTQ+-related suicides committed not only raised the awareness of this problem within our community and culture but also in the minds of the general public. Clearly, more attention and efforts were necessary.

The commemoration of Purple: Spirit Day began on October 20, 2010, at the advocacy and inspiration of one Canadian teenager on her FaceBook social media. It is an awareness day of recent development in response to a USA suicide that gained international attention. On September 22, 2010, eighteen year old student Tyler Clementi, of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River. On September 19, Tyler’s roommate, Dharen Ravi, had posted to his Twitter social media account a clip showing Tyler kissing another man and announced to all his followers that he is gay. All of this was done without the permission of Tyler or his encounter partner.

The resulting media explosion that followed the suicide led Brittany McMillan, a secondary school student in Canada to respond to her conscience and launch the Purple: Spirit Day campaign on her own. The concept was undertaken by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) who immediately assumed sponsorship after consulting with Brittany.

Promoted by GLAAD, participants wear the colour purple as a visible sign of awareness and support for GLBTQ+ young people and opposition to bullying (for whatever reason) in general. It is also a gesture in tribute to all GLBTQ+ victims of suicide.

The very first Purple: Spirit Day was held on Wednesday, October 20, 2010. Later observances were on Thursday, October 20, 2011, and on Friday, October 20, 2012. After that time, GLAAD enacted the official date of the third Thursday in October as the annual occasion.

For those persons restricted by requirements of uniform, a purple awareness ribbon may be worn to show agreement with the cause. If a pre-printed purple ribbon isn’t immediately available, a plain one suffices. Use a regular safety pin to attach the ribbon to your collar or shirt.

I remember the very first Purple: Spirit Day. Aaron, my spouse and I were simply living together at the time, and there wasn’t much notice given in advance of the first occasion. We decided to make purple ribbons to distribute on our jobsites promoting the cause and spent the night before staying up late to create the awareness tokens. We assorted 150 ribbons for each of our jobs. By mid-morning the next day, we exchanged emails and we had both given out of ribbons!

For bare practitioners the event may be signified by painting a purple ribbon on the left side of the chest. It is important to promote attention to this worthy cause!

For additional information on Purple: Spirit Day! please click onto the link below:

Purple: Spirit Day

Naked hugs!

Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride

Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, October 20, 2023, and the proposed topic is: “A Brief Synopsis!”