From evasion to connection: the importance of industry acceptance and how to ‘Wear it Purple’
On Wear it Purple Day, PHD’s Mitchell Long discusses a journey of a past impacting his present, and the benefits of discovery and acceptance.
Content warning: This opinion piece discusses suicide and mental health
In 2020 LGBT+ people aged 16-27 remain five times more likely to attempt suicide in Australia. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I teetered on this statistic during high school.
Today’s ‘Wear it Purple’ movement, an occasion marked on August 28, has a purpose to ‘foster supportive, safe, empowering and inclusive environments for rainbow young people’. Wear it Purple is a moment for us all to reflect that regardless of the headlines of Marriage Equality, Lady Gaga or Mardi Gras, one in six LGBT+ youth at the start of this journey attempt suicide. I was lucky to have a wonderful family to get me through, but that isn’t the case for everyone.
Life in general, let alone high school can be a very lonely path for many people of different shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. Well done on coming through the other side so beautifully, and bravo for paving the way for those who walk in your footsteps. You should be very proud!