A Day of Royal Color: HHS Shows Support for Anti-LGBT Bullying

Six deaths in one month. It doesn’t seem like a an impressive number at first, but it has more significance than to what meets the eye: All six deaths were suicides committed by teens who were bullied for their sexual orientation and expression. The story that grasped the most media attention was the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after a roommate streamed a live video of Clementi having a sexual encounter in their dorm. The suicide immediately grasped media attention and an outcry from the public: Enough is enough, this needs to stop.

In response to the suicides, a national movement was created to raise awareness of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) bullying and to remember those who took their lives because of how they identified themselves. The movement was known as “Spirit Day,” and it called for students and adults across America to wear purple in reminder of this growing issue. Here at Hanover High, our own Rainbow Alliance took the chance to remind students to be careful of their words by hosting a Hanover High Spirit Day.

The Thursday prior to Spirit Day (which occurred Wednesday, October 20th), the Rainbow Alliance sent out announcements to all Common Grounds to wear purple in support of a safe environment at our school. An announcement was also made over the intercom on Tuesday morning as a last reminder to students to show their support. On Wednesday morning, a table was set up in the Atrium and shared by the HHS Rainbow Alliance (who were handing out purple ribbons) and by Amnesty International Club, who was sponsoring 2 petitions from the Human Rights Campaign: one for national recognition of gay marriage and the other, against torture and mistreatment of gay men in Iraq.

But Spirit Day took on a life of it’s own with an out-pouring of students wearing purple, either as an accent color or wearing it head to toe. All it took was a look down the hallway or a peek in a classroom to see an overwhelming amount of the color, a positive sign of the support Hanover High has for students of all types. This is especially important to see, since in recent years a Student Risk Survey uncovered a bullying problem in our own halls. Unfortunately, this does not fix our problem with bullying and word choice (it only takes a walk through the school to hear the words “gay” or “faggot” being tossed around), but it gives us a sense of hope: Maybe one day, every student can feel safe in our school, no matter their personality, sexual orientation, or otherwise.