This Spirit Day, several LGBTQ media outlets celebrated by going purple and publishing articles highlighting the perspectives of LGBTQ youth, the impacts of bullying, or covering those participating in the campaign. Outlets including NBC Out, The Advocate, Out, LGBTQ Nation, and more showed their support for LGBTQ youth.
Check out how these LGBTQ outlets participated in Spirit Day below:
The Advocate
In Honor of Spirit Day,The Advocate published a news article about the history of the anti-bullying campaign. Additionally,The Advocate shared a piece from former Glaad 20 Under 20 Honoree, Darid Prom, in which they discuss their personal experiences as a queer Asian American, the intersection of race and queerness, and the importance of Spirit Day.
LGBTQ Nation
To celebrate Spirit Day, LGBTQ Nation shared an article filled with messages of support from celebrities, major brands, landmarks, and more.
NBC Out
NBC Out changed all of their logos to purple support of Spirit Day and shared messages of solidarity on Twitter. They also published a piece about why Spirit Day takes on renewed importance in 2021.
Los Angeles Blade
Los Angeles Blade published an article about how even 11 years after its creation, Spirit Day continues to highlight the ongoing need to combat bullying against LGBTQ youth.
Out
Out supported Spirit Day with an informative article about the meaning behind the campaign and why everyone is going purple on social media.
Outtake Voices
In recognition of Spirit Day, Outtake Voices shared an educational article about the campaign with links to GLAADs Spirit Day website.
NewNowNext & Logo
NewNowNext published an article about the iconic silver platform shoes Bowen Yang is auctioning off in support of GLAAD’s advocacy work. NewNowNext also changed all of its icons and logos to purple in support of Spirit Day. Logo also changed their logos purple for Spirit Day.
PinkNews
PinkNews published two articles in honor of Spirit Day, one that looks at the impact of bullying on Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett and another on the origins of the color purple in the Pride flag.
We Are Channel Q
We Are Channel Q supported Spirit Day by covering the topic on an episode of Let’s Go There with Shira & Ryan. Nasir Anthony Montalvo, a graduating senior at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ and a GLAAD Media Institute Alumni, joined to talk about how colleges can step up for LGBTQ students.
About Spirit Day:
Each year, millions go purple for GLAAD’s Spirit Day to support LGBTQ youth in a united stand against bullying. Started in 2010 by high school student Brittany McMillan in response to numerous young LGBTQ lives lost to suicide, Spirit Day now draws the participation of celebrities, schools, faith institutions, national landmarks, corporations, media outlets, sports leagues, and advocates around the world, all joining together to stand against bullying and support LGBTQ youth.
Presenting sponsors Target, Visible, and Wells Fargo, official sponsors NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, Porsche Cars North America Inc., Sally Hansen, and Mars Wrigley’s SKITTLES, and community sponsors Amazon, Kellogg Company, Kirkland & Ellis, National Basketball Association & Women’s National Basketball Association, NFL, Nike, and Shutterfly will all participate in Spirit Day.
In 2021, Spirit Day takes on a renewed importance due to the unprecedented challenges facing LGBTQ youth. Over the last year and a half, many LGBTQ youth have not been in school, unable to attend in-person meetings of Gay-Straight Alliances, Gender-Sexuality Alliances or on-campus colleges LGBTQ organizations. During this time, LGBTQ youth have also become increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of cyberbullying, specifically with heightened levels of anti-LGBTQ hate and harassment on social media. Some LGBTQ youth may be confined to a home environment that may be unsupportive or abusive. As well, an unprecedented number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures specifically targeting trans and nonbinary youth have been in the news. Calls to The Trevor Project’s hotline for LGBTQ youth have at times more than doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
This year, Spirit Day is on October 21, 2021. Take the Spirit Day pledge to show LGBTQ youth you’ve got their backs at glaad.org/spiritday. Follow @GLAAD on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to keep up to date with #SpiritDay news.