The slew of students that donned purple shirts on August 20th was no coincidence, but an organized effort to bring attention to a growing problem that has taken an unprecedented turn for the worse in the past few weeks.
This ‘Spirit Day’ was brought about in the advent of the suicides of six public school and college students who were bullied, abused and harassed because they were gay. The cruelty of these cases ranged from one student’s sexual activities being broadcast over the internet without his knowledge, to a 13-year-old being physically assaulted.
This effort was nation-wide (originating on a Facebook page in memoriam to the deceased) but had a fair number of participants at THS who were willing to take a stand against what they felt to be such injustice. One such participant, senior Kristina Havens remarked, “I feel like it’s a really medieval thing to do in a modern time.”
As the spotlight on gay bullying continues to brighten, these students say they will stand adamant for their peers in the future.
