HOLYROOD went all heroic yesterday as MSPs showed their support for gay and transgender young people.
Politicians from all parties assembled in the Scottish Parliament’s garden lobby to throw their weight behind LGBT Youth Scotland’s #PurpleFriday campaign.
For this year’s event, the organisation are asking people to be a “purple hero” and to “stand up against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and show our support for LGBTI equality”.
Purple Friday is based on a similar event started by gay campaign organisations in Canada in 2010 and is aimed mostly at getting schools and organisations that deal with young people to show support.
In 2012, LGBT Youth Scotland surveyed young gay, bisexual and transgender people living in Scotland and found that 70 per cent had experienced homophobic bullying in school, with 10 per cent said that they had left education directly because of their experience.
For this year’s event the group have asked Scottish schools to allow staff and pupils to wear purple to school to “send a visual message of acceptance and LGBTI equality, and allow both students and staff to get involved in a meaningful action to tackle prejudice and discrimination”.
At an event earlier this week, Fergus McMillan, chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, said: “Purple Friday is a fantastic opportunity to show support for LGBT people and to stand against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Scotland.
“Based on Spirit Day in the US and Purple Friday in the Netherlands, this is the second year we have embraced Purple Friday in Scotland. The response has been overwhelming.
“Many schools and organisations are behind Purple Friday and will share their purple selfies on social media to support the campaign and help improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people across Scotland.”
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