October 17 was Spirit Day, a time for people of all ages to stand in solidarity with children and teens who are bullied because of their sexual orientation. This was the third annual Spirit Day, and to celebrate, thousands of people wore wear purple to show that you stand with all youths of all sexual orientations. There are so many other activities you can do in honor of Spirit Day not just in October but every day, too. Here are just a few ideas; be sure to share what you did for your own Spirit Day or how you stand in solidarity with LGBT youth each day in the comments below.
Create a safe space in your school, group or neighborhood. Use a safe space kit from GSLEN if you are not sure how. This may be one of the most important things you can do—especially when your school or community has no safe space to begin with. Make sure you make this very open and well-known so all kids know about the safe space, even if it’s only one classroom.
Start a GSA in your school, community or group. GSLEN has some good resources for doing this as well. If you homeschool, see if your co-op is interested in starting a club, too. Try a book club featuring diversity as the main theme for younger children.
Spread the safe space to the entire school. You can do this with campaigns for respect, bullying prevention measures, and other activities. In my school, we made a connection board to connect kids from each grade and group—from band to sports to science department, etc.—together in some way. For example, host a bake sale for the soccer team and the drama department to work on together. This helps kids get to know one another better and spreads diversity in your school.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
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