Wear It Purple Day is a youth-led day of action held since 2010, founded in response to stories of teenagers who have taken their lives due to the bullying and harassment because of their sexuality and/or gender diversity.
Wear It Purple Day has the simple message that everybody has the right to be proud of who they are.
While we have seen the improvement with the legal recognition of same-sex couples in Australia, there is still evidence that the homophobia, transphobia and bias against people of diverse sex, sexuality and gender affects the wellbeing and educational outcomes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) students.
Wear It Purple Day maintains that demonstrating a supportive school environment by wearing purple on the last Friday in August will go some way to make LGBTIQ students feel welcome and visually see the acceptance of others in their educational environment when they can often feel alone and unsupported.
This year Wear It Purple Day will be on Friday, 31 August, with the theme Empower Together. This theme recognises that progress in the rights and acceptance of LGBTIQ people is achieved by working together.
Schools are encouraged to take part in Wear It Purple Day by registering online and hosting an even, which could include:
- wearing purple clothes or accessories
- holding a bake sale to raise money for a local LGBTIQ organisation or Wear It Purple
- teachers delivering lessons to students and/or presentations to staff on LGBTIQ inclusivity
- holding a best-dressed competition
- inviting guest speakers to speak on the topic of LGBTIQ inclusion and its positive impact.
As part of this year’s centenary celebration, Federation has purple polo shirts with centenary logos, which are available by contacting [email protected]. Additionally, Wear It Purple has a range of merchandise available for purchase including shirts, wristbands and donations can also be made to support the operation of Wear It Purple now and into the future.
Mel Smith, Officer and Cameron Reynolds, LGBTIQ Restricted Committee member