This week, I want to get a little personal because of something I’m so proud of that comes from the existence of social media.
Something that advocates a greater good through the portals we’re simply accustomed to serving our own personal interests. The reason I’m writing about it is because it’s really something else when individuals, communities, and countries can unite over something that’s relevant on personal, professional, political, and so many other levels.
This Friday, 10/19, celebrates the third anniversary of #spiritday, a day culminated of celebrating and supporting LGBT youth across the world, and pushing to stop the bullying they encounter. It’s a pivotal issue of this generation that’s playing a significant role in the US election next month, as well as everywhere else, really.
But back to Spirit Day. It’s a day that was created from an issue that’s deeply personal to me and to countless others because it spurred from the onset of suicides and suicide attempts by teenagers that captured the media’s attention in the fall of 2010. These heartbreaking stories garnered enough attention from news outlets that instead of doing nothing about them, and letting them continue to happen with little to no reaction from the general public, LGBT individuals, their families, friends, supporters, and allies instead chose to find a reason to stop the violence and bullying.
So along came #spiritday, in which across the Internet, supporters advocate 10/19 as the day to celebrate LGBT youth by wearing purple on that day, by adding a purple Twibbon to their profile pictures, and tweeting links, photos, stories and other relevant media to showcase their support.
It’s a “holiday” that’s one of the first I can ever remember being inspired from the reaction of Twitter and Facebook users to current events. Like an online pep rally, but one of the first of its kind.
And I think that’s something amazing. Because as far as the LGBT community goes, organizations like GLAAD, The Trevor Project, NO H8, and others have achieved so much since Spirit Day was first celebrated, and have continued to do so.
No, it’s not an official holiday, but it should be celebrated like one because it manifests the best of the Internet, where people of all backgrounds, locations, and circumstances can support each other and those who they’re advocating for the most: the youth who need them on their side. And I’ll be right there with them on Friday, sporting my own shade of purple throughout the day.
You can read more about Spirit Day and how to get involved – http://www.glaad.org/spiritday
