Spirit Day is an annual LGBTQ awareness day observed on the third Thursday in October. [1] Started in 2010 by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan, it was initially created in response to a rash of widely publicized bullying-related suicides of gay school students in 2010, including that of Tyler Clementi. [2] Promoted by GLAAD, observers wear the color purple as a visible sign of support for LGBTQ youth and against bullying during National Bullying Prevention Month, [1] [3] as well as to honor LGBTQ victims of suicide.
The first observance took place on Wednesday, October 20, 2010. Later observances were held on Thursday, October 20, 2011, [4] and Friday, October 19, 2012, [5] before the tradition of the third Thursday of October was established in 2013. [6] [7]
After the inaugural observance received promotion by GLAAD, many Hollywood celebrities wore purple on this day to show their support of the cause, [8] [9] [10] and many websites added a prominent purple shade to their design. On Facebook, event pages created for the observance attracted more than 1.6 million users worldwide. [11] [12] [13]
Further national and international attention was drawn to Spirit Day when Clint McCance, the vice-president of an Arkansas school board, [14] posted incendiary anti-homosexual remarks on Facebook. [15] McCance ultimately apologised and resigned on the CNN program Anderson Cooper 360° ; [16] however, he received further criticism for what many perceived to be an insincere non-apology apology, including from Dr. Phil in a later Anderson Cooper interview. [14] [17] [18] McCance submitted his resignation letter to the Midlands School District effective November 1, 2010. [19]
In 2016, a few years after Spirit Day became an official LGBT holiday, McMillan reflected saying, "It's the participants that make Spirit Day what it is; they create their own events and their own art, all in the name of showing LGBTQ young people that they care… I know how much it means to people around the world to know that they are supported by their communities." Additionally, GLAAD's VP of Programming, Zeke Stokes, shared the appreciation by saying that the words and pictures that come from a holiday like Spirit Day, illustrates the love and compassion towards the LGBTQ community, leading to youths living their authentic lives. McMillan stated that she is trying to find ways to keep Spirit Day going since the internet and social media continue to change. [20]
Brittany McMillan was a high school student in 2010 when she started working with GLAAD to create the first ever Spirit Day. McMillan said about the event, "Ultimately, I want Spirit Day to make just one person feel a little bit better about his or herself, to feel safe enough in their own skin to be proud of who they are." McMillan has said that she took inspiration from Canada's Pink Shirt Day when creating Spirit Day's signature purple color. Since 2010, Brittany, with the help of GLAAD, has inspired many celebrities, companies, and schools to wear purple and stand up against bullying. [21]
Through the many celebrations that have happened since 2010, some notable celebrities include, Britney Spears, Ana Marie Cox, Vanessa Carlton, and Kristin Chenoweth. [22]
In 2013, support grew to involve the White House, Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, MTV, OWN, Logo, Sundance, Facebook, and others. During the 2013 holiday, "The White House tweeted using #SpiritDay and directed followers to stopbullying.gov." Additionally, many celebrities changed their social media platforms to reflect the LGBT holiday. American Apparel posted a separate store for Spirit Day where shoppers would receive 10% select purple items and the company would donate 10% to benefit GLAAD's work towards equality. [23]
In 2014, Laverne Cox, a transgender actress and activist, went to New York City and hosted an event in which she helped turn the lights on that were strung on the Empire State Building. In support for Spirit Day, she said, "All of our children need to feel safe to be themselves at home, school and in our communities." [22]
The name "Spirit Day" comes from an association with the purple stripe of the rainbow pride flag, which represents "spirit" according to flag creator Gilbert Baker.
In December 2010, COC Nederland named the second Friday of December "Paarse Vrijdag" (Purple Friday). The Gender Sexuality Alliance Network has continued to celebrate the observance annually since then. [24] [25]
Gay bashing and gay bullying is an attack, abuse, or assault committed against a person who is perceived by the aggressor to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. The attack may be physical or verbal. This can also include abuse, bullying or assaults perpetrated against a heterosexual person whom the attacker perceives to be LGBT.
GLAAD is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization, founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian people. Its agenda has since extended to LGBT and the entertainment industry and its portrayal of these groups. The movement is now known by its initials only, as its former full name could be taken as excluding bisexual and transgender issues.
GLSEN is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and to prompt LGBT cultural inclusion and awareness in K-12 schools. Founded in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts, the organization is now headquartered in New York City and has an office of public policy based in Washington, D.C.
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed bi-monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a website. Both magazine and website have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people. The magazine, established in 1967, is the oldest and largest LGBT publication in the United States and the only surviving one of its kind that was founded before the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, an uprising that was a major milestone in the LGBT rights movement.
Day of Silence is GLSEN's annual day of action to spread awareness about the effects of the bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students. In the United States, students take a day-long vow of silence to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBTQ students.
The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998 focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Through a toll-free telephone number, it operates The Trevor Lifeline, a confidential service that offers trained counselors. The stated goals of the project are to provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for the aforementioned youths, as well as to offer guidance and resources to parents and educators in order to foster safe, accepting, and inclusive environments for all youth, at home and at school.
Madonna is considered a gay icon and the gay community has embraced her as a pop culture icon. According to The Advocate, Madonna is the greatest gay icon.
The rainbow flag is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer pride and LGBT social movements. Also known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, the colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender. Using a rainbow flag as a symbol of gay pride began in San Francisco, but eventually became common at LGBT rights events worldwide.
The Think Before You Speak campaign is a television, radio, and magazine advertising campaign launched in 2008 and developed to raise awareness of the common use of derogatory vocabulary among youth towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people. It also aims to "raise awareness about the prevalence and consequences of anti-LGBTQ bias and behaviour in America's schools." As LGBTQ people have become more accepted in the mainstream culture more studies have confirmed that they are one of the most targeted groups for harassment and bullying. An "analysis of 14 years of hate crime data" by the FBI found that gays and lesbians, or those perceived to be gay, "are far more likely to be victims of a violent hate crime than any other minority group in the United States". "As Americans become more accepting of LGBT people, the most extreme elements of the anti-gay movement are digging in their heels and continuing to defame gays and lesbians with falsehoods that grow more incendiary by the day," said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report. "The leaders of this movement may deny it, but it seems clear that their demonization of gays and lesbians plays a role in fomenting the violence, hatred and bullying we're seeing." Because of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, nearly half of LGBTQ students have been physically assaulted at school. The campaign takes positive steps to counteract hateful and anti-gay speech that LGBTQ students experience in their daily lives in hopes to de-escalate the cycle of hate speech/harassment/bullying/physical threats and violence.
Tyler Clementi was an American student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River at the age of 18, on September 22, 2010. On September 19, 2010, Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his dorm room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view, without Clementi's knowledge, Clementi kissing another man. Clementi eventually found out, after Ravi posted about the webcam incident on Twitter. Two days later, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a second tryst between Clementi and his friend, though the viewing never occurred.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States have a long history, including vibrant subcultures and advocacy battles for social and religious acceptance and legal rights.
GRIN Campaign, Global Respect in Education, is a transatlantic non-profit organisation and advocacy group which campaigns primarily for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people's social and political equality in education. It seeks to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in all educational institutes with an underlying message that "being different was 'cool'". It is one of the first campaigns of its kind to originate outside the United States, be run by students and intentionally international.
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Jadin Robert Joseph Bell was an American teenager known for his suicide which raised the national profile on youth bullying and gay victimization in bullying.
Tiq Milan is an American writer, public speaker, activist, and strategic media consultant. He is currently a national spokesperson for GLAAD and the former senior media strategist of national news at GLAAD. Prior to his current roles, he was a mentor and teacher at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, an LGBTQ youth nonprofit organization in NYC. His advocacy, LGBTQ activism, and journalism has been recognized nationally.
Wear it Purple Day is an annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day especially for young people, based in Australia. Supporters wear purple to celebrate diversity and young people from the LGBTIQA+ community.
Ariadne Getty is an Italian-born American philanthropist, businesswoman, and film producer.
For many years, LGBTQ representation increased on animated series and animated films. In the 1990s, LGBTQ characters were depicted in animated series like South Park, The Ambiguously Gay Duo, and The Simpsons. In the early 2000s, LGBTQ+ representation increased in Western animation, culminating in GLAAD's "Where We Are in TV" report in 2005, even as representation in such animation was scattered and disparate. In the 2000s, series like Queer Duck, The Oblongs, The Venture Bros., Drawn Together, and Archer would air. It would not be until the advent of shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time in the 2010s, that LGBTQ+ characters in animation would gain more of a prominent role, leading to shows such as She-Ra and the Princesses of Power in 2018 and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts in 2020, along with other series in the 2020s. This page will show this progress by building off the lists of animated series which contain these characters and explain the History of LGBT characters in animation. It does not focus on LGBTQ characters in anime series or films, which is examined on the LGBT themes in anime and manga page.
LGBTQ Nation is an American online news magazine headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2009 and is currently owned by Q.Digital. The website is primarily marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Through its parent company, it is affiliated with three other sites: Queerty,GayCities, and INTO.
Spirit Day now occurs every year on the third Thursday in October