People around the country are donning purple today and tweeting their support for the LGBT community as part of Spirit Day. Held each year on the third Thursday in October, it serves as a symbol to LGBT youth that they have allies who support them.
Brittany McMillan, the founder of Spirit Day, told NBC in an interview that she came up with the idea after running across several Tumblr posts about a number of LGBT teen suicides. Using Canada’s Pink Shirt Day as inspiration, McMillan asked people concerned with LGBT bullying to wear purple, the color of “spirit” on the Gay Pride flag, to show their support for LGBT youth and against bullying.
McMillan’s online activism caught the attention of GLAAD, which began promoting Spirit Day as a way of calling attention to the problems facing LGBT youth. The visibility the event received due to GLAAD’s involvement grew exponentially, with various organizations or businesses — including many that are not LGBT-specific — participating by “going purple” each year.
Several politicians and pundits expressed their support for LGBT youth via Twitter:
This #SpiritDay, let's take a stand for LGBT youth and send a clear message to all our kids: In the end, bullies always lose. -H pic.twitter.com/sNuoXZYfZr
“We’re proud to go purple today as we join millions of LGBTQ advocates across the globe in calling for an end to bullying,” Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force said in a statement. “No one should ever fear for their safety and well being at school, in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter, simply because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Yet the reality is that 8 out of 10 LGBTQ students are bullied in school each year.
“Bullying has serious consequences that can lead to depression, violence, and suicide,” Carey added. “We urge everyone to join us in standing up against bullying and end all forms of hate and violence.”
McMillan, the founder of Spirit Day, says that seeing people wearing purple is important, as its a tangible show of support that can give them comfort that they are not alone.
“It’s the participants that make Spirit Day what is; they create their own events and their own art, all in the name of showing LBGTQ young people they care,” she told NBC. “I know how much it means to people around the world to know that they are supported by their communities.”
Police in Paris, France, have arrested a homeless Tunisian migrant accused of killing four men whose bodies were later found in the Seine River. The case began on August 13, when a commuter spotted a corpse floating in the river. Investigators subsequently recovered three more bodies from the same stretch of water.
Autopsies confirmed all four victims were men. At least two had been strangled, though forensic experts could not determine the exact cause of death for the others, according to The Times. Police are investigating the four deaths as homicides.
California Democrat says House Oversight Chair James Comer made a "homophobic" remark after Democrats challenged his handling of the Epstein investigation.
U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, fired back at Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) after Comer dismissed him as a "real big drama queen."
Comer's jab came after Democrats released a sexually suggestive letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The letter, featuring a drawing of a curvaceous woman used as the backdrop for birthday wishes, was allegedly signed by Donald Trump and included in a 2003 album celebrating Epstein's 50th birthday. Trump had been friendly with Epstein during the 1980s and 1990s.
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