Today, 25 August, is Wear It Purple Day. This day was founded in 2010 in response to global stories of real teenagers, real heartache, and their very real responses. The day is specifically designed to foster supportive, safe, empowering and inclusive environments for rainbow young people around the world.
On the website for Wear It Purple Day, we are told more about the story of its origins:
“In 2010, several rainbow young people took their own lives following bullying and harassment resulting from the lack of acceptance of their sexuality or gender identity. One member of this group was 18 year old Tyler Clementi, who took his own life after being publicly ‘outed’ as gay by his roommate, prompting a frenzy as reports poured in of various young people sadly in the same situation.
“As the world saw the faces of precious young lives lost, some young people found a new sense of conviction and purpose to ensure that young people everywhere would know that there were people who did support and love them. Wear it Purple was established to show young people across the globe that there was hope, that there were people who did support and accept them, and that they have the right to be proud of who they are.”
Locally, in the lead up to this day, the Rainbow Christian Alliance (RCA) that meets at Tuggeranong Uniting Church (TUC) once each month held an evening to give a local focus on Wear It Purple Day. So, on Sunday 13 August, RCA members and visitors came dressed in purple—it was a dazzling display!
Local Greens MLA, Johnathan Davis, was the guest for the evening. (Sadly, as Johnathan does not own any purple clothing, he didn’t come dressed in purple, as the phot above shows!). Johnno, as he likes to be called, describes himself as “a young shamelessly queer person in public life”. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory in 2020, as one of a number of Green members of that Assembly.
In the ACT, the Greens and Labor have formed a coalition government for the past few years, working together to provide reasonable and intelligent government for the territory. Johnno is not the only gay member of the Legislative Assembly—in fact, the ACT Chief Minister is a gay man in a longterm relationship. And he pointed out that while the Deputy Leader of the Greens is a practising Muslim, this indicates the breadth of opinions amongst the local political parties in the ACT.
Johnathan spoke about how he was radicalised politically by his own public school experiences—including a time when the then government was proposing to close the high school that he was attending. Indignant at this move, Johnno mobilised the school community and was successful in stopping the closure of his school. His first successful political campaign!
Wear It Purple is a day that is important to celebrate, he said. Visibility is so important to young gay and lesbian people—and, also, to young intersex and transgender people, as well as asexual and bisexual young people. Visibility such as like Wear It Purple Day provides is personally empowering for such people and it works to ensure that young rainbow people are not isolated. The Day helps to provide a shared sense of identity amongst young rainbow people, giving them encouragement and support from others of same identity—and, indeed, from straighten allies in the wider community who support this Day.
Johnathan talked about some of the initiatives that the ACT Government has introduced to strengthen mental health support for young rainbow people. We know that rainbow people are more liable to have mental health crisis, to attempt suicide, and indeed to die from their own hands, than those in the straight community. This is exacerbated even more for younger members of the rainbow community.
Studies show that the situation is very serious for members of this community. For instance, I have found that LGBTIQ+ Health Australia has stated the following in its October 2021 report:
For more statistics, and the details of the studies relied on, see https://assets.nationbuilder.com/lgbtihealth/pages/549/attachments/original/1648014801/24.10.21_Snapshot_of_MHSP_Statistics_for_LGBTIQ__People_-_Revised.pdf?1648014801
The ACT Government has recently opened a “queer space cafe”, which is a safe haven space, in the northwest of Canberra. Already, after just a short period of time, the impact of this safe haven space has proved to be incredibly powerful. It is based on the observation that early intervention, when a person is facing a mental health crisis, is far more effective than waiting until the issues have magnified and become far more difficult to manage.
The cafe is staffed by people who transform a simple space to sip coffee and chat into a one-stop shop to refer people in need to whatever services might best be able to support their need. Johnathan says that this reflects the current approach of the ACT Minister for Mental Health, Emma Davidson, MLA, to divert mental health funding away from government-run services into supporting existing community services that are working well. (Emma Davidson is, like Johnathan Davis, a member of the Greens Party.)
Johnathan also spoke quite candidly about his own faith. He volunteered that “Faith has not been an issue for me for many years, but my recent connections with Tuggeranong Uniting Church has led me to re-evaluate my position and rethink faith questions”. He noted that his understanding of God and his experience of church did not correlate—a disjuncture that, sadly, is the case for many people in today’s society, especially when they experience a church that is dogmatic, and judgemental, and what they experience is condemnation and exclusion.
“When I came out”, Johnno said, “everyone who had a problem with my sexuality attributed that to their faith”. That is, they judged him on the basis of what they believed (and what they had been taught) was “right”, rather than encountering him as he was, and building relationships with him from that.
The approach at Tuggeranong Uniting is quite different from this; the community has worked hard to develop an inclusive and welcoming community where relationships are valued over judging, where being an inclusive space has a higher value than being a set-apart, “holy” community of faith. (There are quite a number of other Uniting Churches which are similar in this regard.)
So Johnno continued, saying that “I feel like I can reconsider my faith because of the contact I have had with Tuggeranong; this church is prodding me to re-evaluate my faith”. He had said the same when interviewed for the recent video, “Transforming Connections”, which was recently released. He finished with an indication that he would like to continue to develop his relationship with TUC in the future.
The website for Wear it Purple Day notes that the Day has developed into an international movement. “New generations of rainbow young people continue to be dedicated to promoting the annual expression of support and acceptance to rainbow young people. What started out small has now grown; however the message remains the same: Everybody has the right to be proud of who they are.”
On 25 August, why not celebrate Wear it Purple Day? Be part of a movement that has the potential to save thousands of lives. Be part of this change.
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On Wear It Purple Day, see
https://www.wearitpurple.org/our-story
On Rainbow Christian Alliance, see
An Informed Faith 