On October 20th, 2010, people across North America and maybe the rest of the world (that means you) are being asked to wear purple in honor of the 6 gay teens in the US who committed suicide in recent weeks due to bullying, either in their homes or at school. Their ages range from 13 to 19. Purple represents Spirit on the LGBT flag. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and schools. The teens’ photos are on the right and their names are indicated below:
* RIP Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh (top)
* Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase (middle)
* Asher Brown and Billy Lucas. (bottom)
According to the US National Crime Prevention Council, 43% of teens experienced cyber bullying in the past year.
Councillor Joel Burns of Fort Worth, Texas who is gay, made a very moving address a few days ago before residents and members of Council and my heart broke when I watched the video. He got a standing ovation. If you would like to watch it I have enclosed the video with this post. I’m also enclosing a link to a YouTube video (thanks Tish for bringing this to my attention) released by young Broadway stars “It gets Better Broadway sings for The Trevor Project” in a celebration of life, in the wake of LGBT suicides across the US. Please SHARE this original song and video to help send a message of hope and support. The song is available October 19th on iTunes, with all download proceeds benefiting The Trevor Project. Please support The Trevor Project by downloading this song on iTunes.
Joel Burns’s video is one of the most inspirational I have ever watched. I can’t stop tearing up every time I watch it.
Hi Katiebabs
Thank you for commenting.
If people think that politicians have no feelings they only need to watch this video. I was so moved when I saw it over a week ago. The fact that Joel Burns ran as a gay man and was elected says a lot for Fort Worth, Texas.
Wave – Thank you so much for helping to publicize tomorrow’s movement. Anything that we can do individually to raise awareness of this issue may help some other gay person in crisis.
Joel’s speech is heart felt and well worth watching. I cried too and almost had to stop watching when he had trouble continuing. He is generating quite the buzz and was interviewed on MSNBC by Thomas Roberts about his speech and why he needed to do this.
Hi TJ
Thank you for commenting. We all need to publicize the horrific toll that bullying is having on gay teens, in hopes of stopping this horrendous practice. Schools and parents need to get involved by supporting their gay sons and daughters.
I think I’ll update the post to include a link to Joel Burns’ interview by Thomas Roberts and I hope you will be wearing your purple sweater tomorrow. 🙂
I will definitely be wearing purple tomorrow Wave. And this speech just may make me rethink the cynicism i feel about politicians in general.
Sirius
Thank you for commenting. I hope that everyone who logs on here today will support these kids who unfortunately are not here but maybe we will save one life.
I take my hat off to Councillor Burns and appreciate his courage for coming forward.
Thanks for letting me know Wave. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to try out my new purple bustle dress 😉 I knew there was a reason I had it made. (my hubby can’t complain about the cost now that I ‘bought’ it for a good cause)
On a different but same topic. Author Sloan Parker has tweeted that iTunes have a song by broadway stars called it gets better. All proceeds go to the Trevor Project. Check out her blog for more information.
Tish
Thanks Tish for letting me know about the iTunes song. I’ll add the information to the post so that people who wish to can donate to The Trevor Project.
I think you will look smashing in your purple dress. 🙂
You can also click here:
http://twibbon.com/cause/SpiritDay/Facebook
to create a purple version of your FB profile pic, or here:
http://twibbon.com/join/SpiritDay
to create a purple verison of your Twitter profile pic, which you can use on Spirit day to further show your support.
(These links courtesy of GLAAD).
Hi Justacat
Thank you for coming by and posting those links.
This bullying is horrendous and I hope that all of the attention that people are now paying will flush these monsters out and give the kids an opportunity to have a long, long life.
Thanks again for the links.
Councillor Burn’s speech is extremely moving and admiringly brave. It had me into tears. I just wish that more and more people in public offices or positions, like e.g. politicians and athletes, would speak up.
Thanks for posting, Wave.
Lilli
He is brave isn’t he? A lot of people say that men do not show their emotions. Well they need to watch this video to see how upset and emotional he became when he talked about his own life and those lives that are now lost.
Thanks for stopping by Lilli.
That speech had me in tears. Both myself and my husband will be wearing purple tomorrow. This subject always pulls at my heart strings. I have an 8 year old son with Autism and he has been bullied in school and we have gone through hell and back to help him. If he said he was gay I would do the same – no matter what he is my baby boy and always will be. I attended a parents meeting at school a few days ago discussing bullying and how to keep an eye on our children regarding internet bullying also. The above teens were discussed and I was glad to see how passionate the parents felt about this subject. The session was run by a local police officer who has been going to schools and discussing this topic with children – I just hope it reaches both adults and children alike.
Hi Stace. I’m pleased to see you here again. 🙂 Did you know that Ethan Day left you a message in response to your first post? You should check it out — he’s very nice. LOL
On the topic of bullying
This is how it starts — other kids start bullying very early and if their parents don’t stop it NOW there could be more tragedies. Thank you for adding your own experience to show that bullying happens for all kinds of reasons. Getting the local Police involved is a wonderful move and this will tell the bullies that they are being watched.
I’ll be wearing purple tomorrow as well. I’ll add my thanks to you, Wave, for posting about it. Maybe someday we’ll be able to stem the horrific toll bullying is taking, not only on our LGBTQ youth, but on all children seen as different.
Thanks TA. I hope that more attention given to this horrible and criminal offence and exposing these bullies will help reduce and ultimately stop it. Thank you also for commiting to wear purple tomorrow in support of all kids who are bullied.
I did a post a week ago on October 11, National Coming Out Day, about this crime and here’s a link
http://www.gayromance.org/?p=32861
I pray that other kids will be spared from this horrible way of ending their lives because they have no hope and there’s no adult who is willing to step up. More schools need to make their environments a safe place for kids.
I too will be wearing purple tomorrow. I will wear it with hope that bullying of all kinds will begin to wane as more people realize that being different is, in fact, ok. There are people that will love you no matter what or who you are. You and your real friends are worth living for.
Joel Burns’ speech was incredibly moving, and I tear up each time I see it. I finally had a chance to see Adam Lambert’s video for It. Gets. Better. I watched it last night, with my husband and 8 year old son. We have many gay and lesbian friends and family members, and my son knows that loving someone no matter their gender is never wrong. After watching Adam’s video, my amazing boy looked at his father and I and asked us “why anyone would care who someone else loved? Isn’t love a good thing mom? I think it is, cause I love you and dad, and that’s not wrong is it?” Who said you can’t learn anything from a child?
Thanks Wave for all that you do to remind us all that love is not. ever. wrong.
Hi Elaine
Thank you for coming by and for committing to wear purple tomorrow to remind us about those teens who are no longer here and also to remind the ones who are contemplating suicide that It.Gets.Better.
It’s hard for me to remember the angst of being a teenager because it’s so long ago but at least I can try, with the help of everyone who visits this site, to raise awareness about this very serious issue.
I did see Adam Lambert’s video yesterday and many others including one from Tim Gunn which was also very moving. We all need to do our part and if wearing purple helps one teen that’s all we can hope for.
Joel Burns is an exceptional person and I heart him for being so open in an effort to help at risk teens.
Well, purple it is.
It’s beautiful to see how everyone is rallying to this. This just goes to show what you can do if you work together!
Lasissa
Thanks for committing to wear purple tomorrow in an effort to raise awareness about this problem. While it’s most severe in the US and probably Canada, it could happen to a teen in a town near you, and the more we spread the word the more the bullies will be reviled and stop committing these hateful acts. Let’s save one life each day.
My clothes for tomorrow are all ready to go!
I share the story with my students about how I was bullied and called names the summer I was 10 years old and it changed my life- forever. I made choices all the way through high school as a result of that summer. Words can be powerful motivators, but far too often they are used as weapons. The younger we can reach our children and influence their behavior, the better.
Thanks Patty.
Someone like you, a teacher, is very important in this fight to stop bullying in its tracks. Schools need to pay attention to this problem and provide a safe place for kids who are ‘different’ so they are not bullied to within an inch of their lives.
Asher Brown and Billy Lucas were just 13 and 15 when they killed themselves. That’s how young the bullies are as well. Says a lot about our society doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, when humor in TV shows and movies is built around putting people down and laughing at their embarrassment and humiliation, we manage to train our kids at an early age. My standard questions to my students when they make unkind comments are: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
This also dove-tails into the discussion about reviewing an author’s work in Josh’s column. Some negative reviews border on bullying. Many writers do what they do for cathartic reasons as well as creative ones. A nasty review is a trip down memory lane for many writers, I imagine, and that just plain hurts.
As the saying goes: why can’t we all just get along?
Hi Patty
I understand your point about kids learning to poke fun at others from television and other media. However, if we as parents, teachers, friends, schools and most of all churches (which are the most homophobic organizations in the world I think,) root out the bullying at its source, then hopefully most of it will be eliminated. Kids who are different (smaller, minorities, gay, very shy etc.) will always be picked on but it’s when it gets to the point where it’s reached today that we all need to pay attention.
Re negative reviews, I hope that the reviews on this site are not cruel. Instead of saying “this book sucks” or gutting the books altogether we try to put a positive spin on them, except in rare cases when a book is so awful I wonder how it ever made it into print. I had a parting of the ways with one reviewer over a year ago because of sarcastic comments in her reviews. The one point I would make is that if someone writes a book and it’s offered for sale, that’s completely different to writing for cathartic reasons only and offering a story free to friends and fans. Readers have a right to expect certain standards if they buy something, and books are no different to a movie or a bottle of wine, and reviewers are readers.
There are some review sites that delight in making fun of authors and their books. The one thing I ask all reviewers here is that they do not make their reviews personal about the author – we review books not authors. On the other hand if we review a book that’s really bad, since this site reviews for the readers we feel it’s our responsibility to point out what didn’t work for that particular reviewer (and it’s always one person’s opinion) so that other readers would know upfront – buyer beware. 🙁
Wave, I LOVE your review site. This is one of the only review sites I read anymore because of the quality of the reviews and the civility of the people who comment and respond to the reviews. The reviews are honest, but fair.
I was thinking more specifically of Amazon where climbing the ladder of success or promoting your favorite author involves stepping over the backs of others. Those are the comments that are made by anonymous bullies.
On a happier note, many people in my work place wore purple today, some even by accident which seems cosmic somehow. My daughter reports that many kids in high school wore purple- yeah!
Sadly, I have no Internet acess this week except for my Blackberry, but will watch those videos as soon as I can. I’m on vacation and forgot to pack purple, but upon reading this post, ran out and bought a purple shirt. Thanks so much for the reminder about this very important event
Eden
Whenever you watch the videos, especially the one by Councillor Joel Burns which really moved me and made me cry numerous times, you will get a clearer picture of how much this issue has touched everyone.
Thanks for buying the purple shirt – I’m sure it will look great. 🙂
The kidlet and I are wearing purple today. I thought I might be out of luck because it appeared my only purple item is a VERY casual t-shirt from Old Navy, but some digging in my drawer found a plain purple T I’m wearing under a white blouse so I’m covered. 🙂
The kid had a purple sweater and socks. We are decked out. I see one of my other colleagues is also wearing purple, but to be honest, I work with people who really aren’t on-line ever, so most are probably oblivious although they did say it on the radio this morning.
Awareness is always a good thing, even if it causes one tiny change.
Thanks Tam. Every little bit counts and I’m glad you found something appropriate to wear. LOL
Even one colleague wearing purple is a good thing and shows that others are paying attention. 🙂
Patty
Thank you. We try to do a good job and we hope that it shows.
I used to post a lot of reviews on Amazon until I realized how many of the reviewers didn’t really care about reviewing but had their own agenda, or a few of them used their reviews to be vitriolic. Now I only post a review there if an author asks me to do so.
I noticed that a lot of people were wearing purple today so I hope that means the message is getting through, especially to the bullies and those who empower them by not making them stop before it’s too late. I trust that things will change gradually and that vulnerable kids will no longer be terrorized.