Date/Time
Date(s) - October 19, 2023
All Day
Each year on Spirit Day, millions go purple to support LGBTQ youth.
Today, LGBTQ youth, and especially our trans and nonbinary youth, are experiencing a level of scrutiny in schools we have never seen, leading to an environment rife with stressors beyond the peer-to-peer bullying of the past. From book bans to sports teams bans, to bathroom restrictions and teachers barred from using students’ pronouns, the means by which a student can express themselves and see others like them are increasingly being challenged. Cyberbullying is at an all time high as well. GLAAD’s 2022 Social Media Safety Index found severe harassment for LGBTQ users when compared to 2021. This anti-LGBTQ rhetoric then translates to real-life harm and has been cited as drivers of many of the nearly 250 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in states around the country this year alone, many of which target our LGBTQ youth. This year, Spirit Day is on October 19, 2023 and offers LGBTQ youth and their families a means of visibility and existence only made possible by providing life-saving visibility for those who need it more than ever. Take the Spirit Day pledge to show LGBTQ youth you’ve got their backs at glaad.org/spiritday.
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