Wear it Purple Day 2024

welcome everybody to we at purple day and love you to see the sea of purple in front of me we at purple day is celebrated on the last Friday of August the goal of this day is to raise cultural awareness tolerance as well as an understanding of the issues that the lgbtqi plus youth Community face The Color Purple is chosen because purple is not a primary color and their Thor purple is diverse and there are many shades of purple too when I was a teenager in the' 80s if you were part of the lgbtqi plus Community it was hidden even pop stars would hide their orientation George Michael Pete Burns from Jive Melissa ebridge Boy George and Samantha Fox who was a page three girl as well as a huge pop star did not come out until they were successful and it was safe to do so on the other hand we also had the singer Divine who really opened our eyes and had us talking with his s you think you're a man however there were bands like Bry beat and pep Shop Boys who educated us about lgbtq issues and used up conversations with us about some of the issues that the rainbow Community encounters at school name calling was R even if it was hinted that you could be part of the lgbtqi plus Community lesie friends would be called out to girls who even stood too close to each other homophobic slurs to boys who were perceived to be different I remember once walking from drama to art class with my best male friend at the time and behind us someone was saying awful slurs about him I remember he whispering to me don't react I get this all the time I've used to it he left school at the end of year 11 as he told me he just could not cope with school anymore he came out a few years later and even today I'm glad that he was the first person who educated me about the lgbtq plus community Through bronsky beat songs and he also made a huge fan of the pet shot voice even today I think about him and how hard it would be to be in high school and questioning who you are I also remember in my early 20s my boyfriend at the time confided to me that his best friend was struggling because he wasn't interested in girls and so to protect him my boyfriend at the time decided that my best female friend at the time and myself would accompany them to nightclubs one on each side of his friend and we would be all over his friend so that no one would know his secret and he would be safe what I am discovering now is that things I encountered in my youth are still happening today a lgbtqia national survey called riding themselves in four from M Trove focusing on the 14 to 21 year olds in 2019 found that 83 88.3% felt supported by friends when they discovered their sexuality or gender and 65.2 felt supported by their teachers great news however 60.2% felt unsafe uncomfortable in secondary school due to their sexuality and or gender identity 40.8% had experienced verbal harassment 22.8% sexual harassment or assault and 9.7 physical harassment in the past year 81% reported high levels of psychological distress 10.1% attempted suicide in the past year with 25.6% attempting suicide at some point of their lives remember these are your 14 to 21 year olds and 23.6% experienced homelessness with 11.5% in the past year where at purple is a not for-profit organization run by volunteers and youth today raising awareness of the lgbtqia plus communities and they ask organizations to work with to create safe supportive inclusive and empowering environments for rainbow young people it is pleasing toight that we have opportunities to Rive these things at gring's Community Health as we offer counseling mental health support youth focused aod support school focus youth homelessness and homelessness support programs and we will support the rainbow youth when they come through our doors as we pride ourselves on being a familyfriendly organization that supports the whole community so come out and connect with us solidarity for wear it purple thank you for listening [Music]