What can PURPLE mean to YOU? Show your Support

[onewhocares]

On October 20Th we will wear purple to bring awareness to, and put an end to
intolerance in honor of the 6 boys who committed suicide in recent weeks/months
due to homophobic abuse at home and in schools. Purple represents spirit on the
Lgbtq flag and that's exactly what we would like all of you to have with you:
spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people
who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality.
Please wear purple on October 20Th. Tell your parents, friends, co-workers,
neighbors and schools.

RIP
Tyler Clementi
Seth Walsh
Justin Aaberg
Raymond Chase
Asher Brown
Billy Lucas
Zach Harrington
and all other victims of homophobia

This pain and suffering MUST STOP.....Help make it happen. Be part of the
solution.

"The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect
you!"
A quote from a dear friend.



On a related note......



There has been a thread of discussion on HOW ( a Yahoo group called Husbands Out to Wives) recently regarding society's intolerance towards homosexuality in the context of recent (and ongoing) teen suicides and assaults in response to bullying in the schools. I just wanted to share this link to a recent speech given by Joel Burns to the Fort Worth City Council on this issue and his message of hope to all those dealing with this in their lives. It had me in tears....

http://tv.gawker.com/5663083/

this-is-the-most-touching-it-gets-better-video-you-will-ever-see



This was used with permission from the donor on MMOMW an AP.


Belle

[Long Duck Dong]

finally.... somebody shares the others that died with barely a mention.....

I will not wear purple in support of them cos there is far more victims than just lgbt kids..... what I will do is continue to question why there are so many others that are suffering bullying and harrassment at home and at school..... that never get mentioned or acknowledged...... that can be of any race or sexuality....and why fuck all is being done for them......

its all good to do the be out and proud stance.... but now we are burying the kids that are out or outted..... and the best we are doing is saying hang in there... it gets better......

meanwhile, they continue to die.... its gotta stop.....

[Holmes]

Purple is also the color in support of alzhiemer's research. I ,must agree with LDD there are many other kids who are bullied who are not gay and they need to be supported as well. This bullying epedimic needs to stop . It needs to start first at home then the schools and then the peer groups as well and dare I say it the churches which continually call it a sin and abomination( FYI in the orginal hebrew text the word meant not of our traditions, not sin ) every time there is any sort of "gay " issue.

[TaylorMade]

finally.... somebody shares the others that died with barely a mention.....

I will not wear purple in support of them cos there is far more victims than just lgbt kids..... what I will do is continue to question why there are so many others that are suffering bullying and harrassment at home and at school..... that never get mentioned or acknowledged...... that can be of any race or sexuality....and why fuck all is being done for them......

its all good to do the be out and proud stance.... but now we are burying the kids that are out or outted..... and the best we are doing is saying hang in there... it gets better......

meanwhile, they continue to die.... its gotta stop.....

This.

*Taylor*

[gfofbiguy]

I will wear purple for awareness/support for LGBTQ - but purple is also used for Domestic Violence awareness as well - and October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, too ... which can happen to anyone, any race, any gender, any sexuality, any PERSON

[VerdeBiGuy]

Count Us in!!!:flag1:

[tenni]

In North America, bully of teens by teens has been an on going topic for years regardless what their sexuality is. More than nine years ago, a teenage girl was bullied for months by other girls. She was finally tricked to go somewhere under the guise of a new friendship. She was brutally beaten, burned with cigarettes and finally drowned by girls while other girls watched. These bullying issues have been talked about. Telephone help lines have been dealing with it for years. Programmes are in place in schools.

There is nothing wrong with supporting glbt teens who are being bullied at this point in time when there has been high visibility of suicides by glbt youth. I agree that wearing a ribbon won't stop it. For those who wish to show their support for glbt teens who are bullied to the point of suicide isn't going to hurt.

[Long Duck Dong]

In North America, bully of teens by teens has been an on going topic for years regardless what their sexuality is. More than nine years ago, a teenage girl was bullied for months by other girls. She was finally tricked to go somewhere under the guise of a new friendship. She was brutally beaten, burned with cigarettes and finally drowned by girls while other girls watched. These bullying issues have been talked about. Telephone help lines have been dealing with it for years. Programmes are in place in schools.

There is nothing wrong with supporting glbt teens who are being bullied at this point in time when there has been high visibility of suicides by glbt youth. I agree that wearing a ribbon won't stop it. For those who wish to show their support for glbt teens who are bullied to the point of suicide isn't going to hurt.

its not gonna hurt, i agree..... and I am not implying that people that do it, are wasting their time.....

the suicide rate by heteros is higher than the LGBT suicide rate in NZ... its a 7 to 1 ratio..... its why we address the suicide rate as a whole... not by groups......

I was on the front line with my counselling and therapy work.... dealing with stuff like this on a daily basis...... and I lost count of the funerals.....
so when I say we need to stop trying to make pretty videos and write books and shit, cos its not working.... its based around experience.....

and many of the people that are encouraging teens to come out... are not the ones picking up the pieces, attending the funerals, counselling the families and listening to the bullies being told that they have disorders or syndromes, or its the way they were brought up or the school failed etc etc.....

I have been there.... with my hands tied cos of things like the privacy act that would not allow me to contact other services for the sake of the teen, and seeing the desperation in their eyes, begging me to help them, to stop the bullies....... then you get the phone call..... the bullies have stopped.... cos there is no longer a victim...... and you hang up the phone.... and cry as society says omg, any victim, something needs to be done, we should do something, cos this person or that person never did anything to help the students.... and thats when I stand up and say, but you removed the schools ability to stop it, you removed the right of the school to expel the bullies.... cos you held up the bullies right to a education....... you waved the human rights banner in favour of the bullies.... and now they have cost society a human life.......

its like I have said..... people want to encourage the kids to come out..... knowing what the kids can face..... and then you blame others for the kids getting bullied..... stop passing the blame

[IanBorthwick]

When I was in High School, I suffered bullying in extreme bouts because I was secretly labeled "Gay" and did not find out about it until I left High School. I did nothing to bring that on, nor did I do anything about my attractions to males, presenting a perfectly heterosexual facade to the entire school. One girl who only felt important when passing gossip people believed got me assaulted repeatedly! I would eventually go in desperation to a Dojo for Taekwondo only to be taken aside and trained privately by my sensei.

Why did I do this? The school did not listen, did not help, did not give a damn. I was hurt, bloodied, bruised, locked in a urine soaked stall and forced head first into a feces filled toilet. The Principal and Vice Principal did nothing and did not care.

But they DID care when I fought back, because now the hunters were the hunted and they did not know how to reconcile it. I laughingly got suspended from school several times, and the boys who bullied and beat me NEVER got into any trouble. They grew up and many went to jail, some got killed in robberies, and their leader, the one who flung FAG in my face would later die of AIDS he acquired from his male lover.

The moral of this story is that we need to focus on the Bullying, no matter who is suffering it. Bullying empowers those who are themselves being bullied and passing it on to those who are weaker. Not all stories end happily like my own....and despite being the one who survived, I still wear the scars on my heart forever...After 3 attempts to take my own life, I did finally straighten out and move on. But not all of us are so lucky.

[Falke]

When I was in High School, I suffered bullying in extreme bouts because I was secretly labeled "Gay" and did not find out about it until I left High School. I did nothing to bring that on, nor did I do anything about my attractions to males, presenting a perfectly heterosexual facade to the entire school. One girl who only felt important when passing gossip people believed got me assaulted repeatedly! I would eventually go in desperation to a Dojo for Taekwondo only to be taken aside and trained privately by my sensei.

Why did I do this? The school did not listen, did not help, did not give a damn. I was hurt, bloodied, bruised, locked in a urine soaked stall and forced head first into a feces filled toilet. The Principal and Vice Principal did nothing and did not care.

But they DID care when I fought back, because now the hunters were the hunted and they did not know how to reconcile it. I laughingly got suspended from school several times, and the boys who bullied and beat me NEVER got into any trouble. They grew up and many went to jail, some got killed in robberies, and their leader, the one who flung FAG in my face would later die of AIDS he acquired from his male lover.

The moral of this story is that we need to focus on the Bullying, no matter who is suffering it. Bullying empowers those who are themselves being bullied and passing it on to those who are weaker. Not all stories end happily like my own....and despite being the one who survived, I still wear the scars on my heart forever...After 3 attempts to take my own life, I did finally straighten out and move on. But not all of us are so lucky.

This is why I will be wearing purple. I had a similar experience and made it through, while I can't immediately help short of making videos, telling my story, and backing any sort of legislation that comes through legal channels against it I can at least show that someone knows of what they are going through.

[mikey3000]

I will wear purple too.

[Realist]

I also was indirectly aware of this phenomena, when a fellow soldier's brother was murdered in Jamaica, because he had "gay" characteristics. He was, in fact, as straight as could be. Nothing was ever done to the perpetrators!

[MarieDelta]

Went to a safe schools coalition film(Out In the Silence (http://wpsu.org/outinthesilence)) & pot luck last night.

It isnt just students who are bullied into silence, its teachers and other community members.

People like the American Family Association (http://www.afa.net/) and other "Family Values" (http://www.focusonthefamily.com/) groups actively discourage schools from taking action to curb bullying.

I will be wearing purple , not just to remember those who have taken their lives , but also to show the kids in my area that there are people who are safe to come to for support.

That someone does care can be an important message.

Also, there was another film on bullying (Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case that Made History (http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/new-teaching-tolerance-film-to-address-anti-gay-bullying-in-schools)) that was presented as a way to combat schools that will not take action.


“Harassment is harassment, and it should not be tolerated,” Nabozny said. “It doesn’t matter whether somebody’s gay or whether they’re Jewish or whether they’re overweight. Kids do not deserve it and they deserve to be protected and safe in their schools.”



Get a free teaching kit here(http://www.tolerance.org/teaching-kits) for teaching tolerance - if you are a classroom teacher.

[Annika L]

I'll be happy to wear purple tomorrow!

I dunno. I just can't buy the argument that says, "if I can't support everyone who suffers injustice in this world, then I'm not going to support anyone." I certainly can't support every worthy cause that's out there. But when there's a cause like this, and I can do something simple like wear purple, sheesh, why not?