I don’t really have an issue with pink shirt day, per se. It’s a great way to increase awareness and to start conversations about bullying in schools and classrooms, but it will take a lot more than wearing pink shirts to end bullying.
Pink shirt day even began as a grassroots movement by some awesome teenagers in Nova Scotia, Canada.
As the story goes, pink shirt day began in 2007 when a grade 9 student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Whether the boy is gay or not, it was assumed he was because he was wearing pink, and he was called homophobic slurs.
I imagine there’s a bit more to the story, but the cool part is that a fellow student and his friends all decided to wear pink shirts to school the following day, in support of the bullying victim. Not only that, they went to a thrift store and bought as many pink shirts as they could find, then handed them out for other students to wear.
The campaign has grown worldwide and is used to promote bullying awareness and anti-bullying programs. Proceeds from pink shirt purchases often go to charitable organizations, such as the CKNW Kids’ Fund in British Columbia.
That’s all pretty amazing.
By all means, wear a pink shirt to increase bullying awareness, my son and I will be wearing ours proudly tomorrow. Just know that it can't end there.
If we want to do more than sport a shirt of a particular colour for a day, we need to put pressure on our government and on our school leadership.
In addition to tomorrow being pink shirt day, February is also inclusive education month. I can think of no better way for our politicians to celebrate inclusion, and to demonstrate they genuinely value inclusion, than through meaningful action, increased funding, and policy change.
Read my article in Neurodiversified.