Celebrating Wear It Purple Day 2022
If there is ever a cause that’s near to our hearts it’s supporting LGBTQIA+ youth. The last few years have made it difficult to be queer, gender diverse or even just a human being. Wear It Purple Day rose from the tragic passing of LGBTQIA+ youth from harassment and bullying in 2010, and it’s a day where you can do more than just don a purple shirt and hang with your best gays.
WEAR IT PURPLE FOR THE YOUTH
Wear It Purple Day is a wonderful way that you can show active support for LGBTQIA+ youth, but it isn’t enough to simply perform support. The organisers at Wear It Purple Day and Minus18 want to encourage supporters to spark tricky conversations, relearn and unlearn what the queer community needs and to engage with LGBTQIA+ people in your life.
Minus18 has a wonderful article that details some conversation starters if you are celebrating in a workplace. “How can we stay up to date on LGBTQIA+ knowledge as a team? If someone tells a joke that’s a little off, how can we gently let them know it’s not okay? Are there ways we can make the office more rainbow and welcoming?”
To Wear It Purple, you can purchase a school or workplace starter kit and discuss with either administration or management how best to implement the celebration into your institution. Although not necessary, you can equally select to register your event at WearItPurple.org which helps them gage the effectiveness of each event and open channels of communication.
The core tenet of this day is to raise awareness for LGBTQIA+ issues that affect youth and to support causes that help alleviate those issues. So come Friday, August 26, 2022, don your purple kit, donate to Wear It Purple and start having the important conversations.
