White House, Dems ‘go purple’ for Spirit Day

{mosads}Secretary of Education Arne Duncan also showed his support with a twitpic of him putting on a purple tie for Spirit Day. He tweeted, “Bullying is not a rite of passage & we’ve got to take a stand.”

Spirit Day began in October of 2010 and is promoted by GLAAD as a means of showing support for bullied young people in response to the increasing number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens who were taking their own lives. 

Other Dems going purple were Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), who said in a tweet that she pledged to continue to fight for LGBT youth in the Senate. Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) also tweeted their support.

The GLAAD website urges supporters to turn their social-media profiles purple and use the hashtag #SpiritDay in hopes of getting more people to observe Spirit Day.

Purple tie on to support our #LGBT youth. Bullying is not a rite of passage & we’ve got to take a stand. #SpiritDay twitter.com/arneduncan/sta…

— Arne Duncan (@arneduncan) October 19, 2012

Today @whitehouse has gone #purple for #SpiritDay: at.wh.gov/eC0sL

— The White House (@whitehouse) October 19, 2012

Today is #Spiritday – Take a stand against bullying and show your support for LGBT youth bit.ly/96zC1p

— Rep. Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) October 19, 2012

Today for #SpiritDay, I stand w/our #LGBT youth against bullying & will cont to fight for them in the US Senate glaad.org/spiritday @glaad

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) October 19, 2012

Happy #SpiritDay! Join @glaad, go pruple & take a stand against #LGBT bullying glaad.org/spiritday twitter.com/RepMikeQuigley…

— Mike Quigley (@RepMikeQuigley) October 19, 2012

I’m going purple today for #SpiritDay in support of LGBT youth with @glaad bit.ly/96zC1p

— Niki Tsongas (@nikiinthehouse) October 19, 2012