Hollywood stars such as Alyssa Milano (Charmed), Mj Rodriguez (Pose), Michelle Visage (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Ross Mathews (RuPaul’s Drag Race, Live From E!), and Kim Petras (singer-songwriter) are helping GLAAD recognize National Coming Out Day with a launch of the official countdown to Spirit Day, the LGBTQ anti-bullying campaign.
Spirit Day first began in 2010 when then-high school student Brittany McMillan created a Tumblr post asking students to wear purple following the suicide deaths of several LGBTQ and LGBTQ-perceived young people. This year’s Spirit Day will be Oct. 18. Millions of people around the world will wear purple or go purple online in a unified stand against bullying and to show support for LGBTQ youth.
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In Milano’s video, she shared the importance of standing in solidarity with people who have been victimized. “It can feel very alone, it can feel very isolating. I totally understand that, but the most important thing you can do is find your allies, ask for help. Sometimes we can’t do everything ourselves and sometimes we need to reach out.”
And for Mathews’ clip, he shared a message of love: “Being bullied is so tough. And I think more of us know what that feels like than we admit. Whether it’s your orientation, gender, skin color, your size or hair color or whatever — everyone has been picked on and bullied. It’s not just our community and I think we can all stand up for each other as a human race and say, ‘Not today.’ Let’s try to hug instead of fight.”
Previous Spirit Day participants include the Obama White House, the Empire State Building, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Cher, Kerry Washington, Shaquille O’Neal, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The View, The Talk, The Tonight Show and more.
See Milano’s and Mathews’ videos below.
