Wear It Purple Day: mostly remotely

Dave Willis & Aimee Hulbert

Wear it Purple Day, 28 August 2020, is one of two LGBTIQ+ annual campaign days on the NTEU calendar.

COVID-19 threw up a new challenge for many ‘Wear it Purple’ allies getting together. They did that where permitted.

National QUTE caucus held our monthly online chat on Wear it Purple Day. Participants answered the question, 'If I could tell my 16-year-old self something, what would it be?' The solidarity and warmth of participants in the online chat underlined the true spirit of Wear it Purple Day. W

ear it Purple Day is an opportunity for the Union to engage members in activities that recognise, celebrate and support our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) communities. Schools, universities and other workplaces ‘wear it purple’ to celebrate the diversity of the rainbow community and show support to rainbow young people.

Origins

Response to a string of deaths of rainbow youth due to bullying and harassment back in 2010 moved the public conscience. Famous television host Ellen Degeneres declared on her show, 'this needs to be a wake up call to everyone: teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic …and the death rate is rising.'

That year, American university student Tyler Clementi jumped to his death from a bridge after being ‘outed’ by his roommate. A webcam recording of Tyler and another male student was shared without their knowledge or consent. Tyler’s legacy is an anti-bullying Foundation in his name. It stands to challenge harassment, bullying, cruelty and humiliation by engaging ‘bystanders’ to these behaviours to become ‘upstanders’. ‘Upstanders’ are encouraged to stop anti-social behaviours by leading a pledge that calls out harassing behaviours both in person and online.

Being LGBTIQ+on campus

Recent research points to the significance of events such as Wear it Purple to supporting LGBTIQ+students and staff in tertiary education.

Research into the LGBTIQ+student experience in (American) higher education was commissioned by the Tyler Foundation and reported in 2018 . It revealed campus climates that failed to provide an equitable learning environment for LGBTIQ+students and disparities across engagement and health outcomes.

Supplementing the normative stress and challenges of university, the study found, LGBTIQ+students navigate the additional stress of prejudice, harassment, discrimination and violence on campus. This includes social exclusion, verbal and/or physical harassment, non-verbal exclusion (e.g. looks and stares) and discrimination.

For the Tyler Clementi Foundation, this report is a call to action to address campus heterosexism and cissexism. They ask bystanders to become ‘upstanders’ and generate resources and support to make this happen.

Recent Australian research investigated campus climate for sexuality and gender diverse staff and students at the at Western Sydney University. A critical finding of this study was the level of fear of heterosexism and cissexism on a university campus. 46% of participants reported they felt safer hiding their sexuality or gender identity. Discrimination was reported by 42% of participants and harassment/bullying 32%. S

ignificantly, the research also showed that although 75% of all respondents reported they would intervene in incidents of heterosexism and cissexism just 26% did so making ‘bystander’ behaviour a potential key action item for this work within universities and a potential action for NTEU’s 2021 Wear it Purple Day.

Looking ahead

In October, NTEU National Council 2020 moved a motion similar in intent to the pledge put forward by the Tyler Clementi Foundation. This motion followed internal hostility between members of the QUTE caucus. This conflict translated into online harassment, humiliation and other ‘cancel culture’ tactics against fellow union members and union staff.

This was an important step for the QUTE caucus in living the values of Wear it Purple Day and standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before, like Tyler Clementi. ◆