Every year thousands of schools, community organisations, universities and workplaces hold events across Australia for Wear it Purple Day.

The day holds significance for many Australians and focuses on LGBTQIA+ youth and the key issues they face.

This year Wear it Purple Day will be held on Friday 25 August and the theme is Write Your Story.

The 2023 theme places emphasis on the importance of personal expression and individuality for LGBTQIA+ youth.

For young people who identify as LGBTQIA+, the theme represents the importance of taking ownership of their stories and sharing their experiences.

Wear it Purple Day 2023 has three main aims including visibility, community and acceptance.

Wear it Purple is a volunteer-led and run organisation, which was founded in 2010, in response to many global stories of teenagers self-harming, due to bullying and harassment.

These real stories, real responses and real heartbreak resulted from a lack of acceptance, a lack of community, support and safety due to their sexuality or gender identity.

Wear it Purple president Lara Husselbee said: “Being queer and visible is a privilege not a lot of people have. For our youth, one of the many factors impacting this is their safety and the role models they have around them.”

“People who are confident to carry courageous conversations, to ask questions, to learn, to create space for youth voices and to actively listen. So often, we can be caught up in the data or the words in the messages we are trying to deliver, resulting in the fact we are forgetting we are talking about people,” she said.

Wear it Purple Day 2023 artist

Each year there is an artist selected to help promote Wear it Purple Day through the creation of resources such as posters, postcards, social media tiles and more. This year’s artist, Lawson “Wukawe” Dodd is a proud Kaurna/Narungga/Ngarrindjeri man whose strengths in digital media allow him to take a modern approach to his artwork, while incorporating traditional customs and meaning. His talents were recently recognised when he was awarded NAIDOC SA Artist of the Year 2022.

How can your workplace get involved?

There are various ways in which you and your workplace can get involved in Wear it Purple Day, such as:

• Hold or attend panels and keynote events: The power of storytelling and visibility enables LGBTQIA+ youth to connect to community and gain strength hearing about common struggles and opportunities to triumph.
• Prioritise key issues through your pride employee network groups: Championing topics like pronouns, gender affirmation and identity, inclusive language and how to be an active ally.
• Continue conversations: beyond Wear it Purple Day that deliver safety in classrooms and workplaces across the country.

What started out small has now grown; however the message remains the same. Everybody has the right to be proud of who they are.

By wearing purple on the last Friday of August, you will demonstrate to hundreds of thousands of LGBTQIA+ young people across Australia that you see them, you support them, and you respect them.

Be part of a movement that has the potential to save thousands of lives. Be part of this change.

For more information, resources, communication support, where to purchase merchandise and how to donate visit www.wearitpurple.org.

If you’re in crisis or feeling unsafe, please call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.