I Support Spirit Day ...

From my head down to my toes ...

Glad I remembered to join the thousands of others in wearing purple today for Spirit Day -- as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. (I usually forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, so this was a real feat!)

From GLAAD's site: Spirit Day was started in 2010 by teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. Observed annually on October 20, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, media professionals and celebrities wear purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Getting involved is easy -- participants are asked to simply "go purple" on October 20 as we work to create a world in which LGBT teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are.

It truly breaks my heart that this problem persists as virulently today as it did when I was a kid. (I've written about my experiences before.) Let's hope LGBT youth -- and all LGBT people -- begin to feel the benefits of campaigns like this soon. With the Republican Party still making discrimination against LGBT people part of its platform, sometimes it can be horribly disheartening and even I feel hopeless at times. (We truly are the last minority for it to be socially acceptable to discriminate against.) But despite the shortcomings of the Obama administration, I really do take enormous solace in the fact that things are HUGELY different today for us than they were when Bush was in office. And with the next generation slowly taking the controls of this country -- and people like Governor Andrew Cuomo -- things really are getting better.

Happy Spirit Day, everyone!