Warning this post will be discussing issues of bullying and suicide in the youth of the international LGBTQ+ community, if these issues are triggering for you then that is ok, you do not have to read this post, to everyone else I hope to teach you about a group I have been a strong supporter of for five years now.
Wear It Purple was founded in 2010 due to the rising number of LGBTQ+ youth not being accepted, bullied and turning to suicide just because the people around them could not accept them for their sexuality or gender choices. This issue came to a head when 18-year-old Tyler Clementi killed himself after being outed by his roommate in such a cruel way. In response, Ellen DeGeneres made the following statement;
“This needs to be a wake-up call to everyone: teenage bullying is an epidemic… and the death rate is climbing.”
This statement made many around the world step up and say they wanted to see change and so began the journey of Wear it Purple, to help let teens out there know, there are people out there that will support your life choices and you do not need to go it alone.
Bullying is an issue that everyone will have to deal with at some point in their lives. Whether it be in their own family, at school, in the community or in the workplace. Bullying is more than physically hurting someone believe me I know because I went through ten years of school being bullied by my classmates for being different. I was only occasionally bullied physically but it was the words others threw at me that hurt more than being tripped over or spat on. But there is more to bullying than being the victim or the cause, those who stand by and watch bullying happen and do nothing, or as we have seen in recent years stand on the sidelines with their phones out recording the scene playing out before them, they are just as guilty as the bully themselves in my eyes.
It’s easy to say you don’t like or don’t support bullying, it takes a little bit more to step forward and stand up to the bully and tell them that you will not tolerate their behavior in your community.
Yaoi Playground 
I loved this post! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your own path with bullying which is, in fact, a huge problem that needs to be addressed. Fortunately, I was only bullied for 2 years or something like that and just got hit once…
Also, thank you for supporting the LGBTQ+ community! As a gay guy, I appreciate it a lot ❤
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All of my friends are either part of the LGBTQ+ community or a supporter so I love to support the community as much as I can
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Bullying has a terrible long-term effect. The whole “it builds character” thing never resonated me, before, during, or after the years that I was bullied. The thing for me was that I was never outright bullied for not being straight, but when I was still figuring out whether I was, ‘gay’ was used a major insult. The amount fo times I heard that really didn’t help me figuring myself out. Oddly, while I didn’t know today was Wear Purple Day, I am wearing some purple on my socks.
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