Rainbow Roo and Wear it Purple Day have a lot in common. We’re both established in Australia, we both involve clothes and they both celebrate and advocate for the LGBTIQA+ community. If you don’t already know, Wear it Purple Day is an annual awareness day for the LGBTIQA+ community organized by a non-profit organization and it is held on the last Friday of every August. This will be its eighth year and it will be celebrated on 31st Aug 2018.
The concept is simple, which makes it easy for anyone from any background to pledge their support. At its most basic level, the event asks you to wear purple this August 31st. Katherine Hudson, co-founded the event with Scott Williams, sees this as a multitude of people creating a symbol of unity for the community. Hudson and Williams created the event to show support, especially for queer teens at risk. This came about after a string of heartbreaking suicides revolving around sexuality, culminating in the tragic death of Tyler Clementi.
In response, Wear It Purple was created to bring hope and camaraderie to young LGBT community members across the world. In just eight years, thanks in large part to social media, the day has become a global outpouring of support for the young people of our planet. No matter how big it becomes, the message is steadfast. Everybody has the right to be proud of who they are. This is one of the ideals Rainbow Roo was founded upon and we could not be more excited to help out.
Your support does not have to end at your wardrobe; there are many ways to truly make a day of it. The aim of Wear It Purple day is to provide and develop safe, welcoming, and supportive environments for rainbow young people. It is a core belief that rainbow young people should not receive prejudice in their surroundings and should receive equal treatment. In stride with these ideals, individuals and groups should attempt to create their own events under the Wear It Purple umbrella. Anything will help and bolster the message of the day for participants. It could be as ambitious as a charity event and as simple as a small get together. The important part is that the young individuals of the community feel loved, supported, and excited for their future. Once you have decided something, feel free to register your event on the Wear It Purple website.
There are plenty of other ways to help the cause. If you are involved in a corporation you think might be interested in a partnership, don’t hesitate to push for it! Business sponsorships are a great way to fundraise and spread awareness for the special day. You never know the difference it could make. Additionally, if you have any professional skills, insight or resources you believe could benefit Wear It Purple, send an email to secretary@wearitpurple.org right away. Nothing will make you feel better than putting the abilities you have developed towards a good cause. Finally, anyone 24 years of age and under is free to join their Youth Action Council. Once again, Wear It Purple was founded and run by students. This could be a great opportunity to gain experience working with similar minded people on a common and worthwhile goal.
Another way to benefit the project is to donate. There is a tab on their website with a simple and easy to use donation system. Organizations like Wear It Purple rely on donations to lay track for their ideas. Donations directly fund projects including community events such independent gay pride parades and Mardi-Gras, workshops at schools in order to educate students on the importance of diversity, material costs for Wear It Purple Day, and various rainbow initiatives, particularly those organized by youth. Donations do not need to be large to help, especially when they are made in large numbers.
As previously stated, Wear It Purple Day owes a large part of its success to the awareness developed by individuals on social media, regardless of their sexual orientation. Throwing up a picture of your style on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc with the hashtag #WearItPurpleDay is a great way to generate interest and support for the envent. Chances are you will catch someone who is unaware of the event. Best case scenario, you will be able to enter a dialogue with them about the meaning and the movement of the day. Just don’t get comfortable inside taking pics. The purpose of the event is to create optimal environments for rainbow youth.
Rainbow Roo is seven years younger than Wear It Purple Day, but was founded on many similar values. At Rainbow Roo, our core value is that Love is Love. In line with Wear It Purple, we are using clothing to celebrate gay culture and advocate for the rights of everyone in the LGBTIQA+ community. Sexuality and gender play a large part in your identity. Rainbow Roo and Wear It Purple both utilize simple wardrobe choices as ways to express your true self.
This is important. People comfortable in their sexuality act as role models for younger members of the rainbow community who may be struggling. By wearing pro-gay clothing, you are a sign to many in the closet that it is okay to be themselves. Wear It Purple seeks to expand this interaction to a global scale. When you create or participate in a Wear It Purple event, you are showing rainbow youth how comfortable, exciting, cool, and freeing it can be to be out and proud. Start planning your event today, just make sure you wear something Purple!
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