ECU celebrates Wear It Purple Day 2023.
Wear It Purple Day 2023 is Friday 25 August and was founded in response to high rates of LGBTIQA+ youth suicide due to experiences of discrimination and marginalisation.
The movement strives to foster safe, supportive, empowering and inclusive environments for rainbow young people.
Write Your Story
This year's Wear It Purple theme is 'Write Your Story' which places an emphasis on the importance of personal expression and individuality for rainbow youth. The theme represents the importance of taking ownership of their narratives and to share their experiences in their own voices.
Personal expression and storytelling can be empowering, contributing to a broader cultural shift towards greater acceptance and visibility for LGBTIQA+ folk.
Edith Cowan University (ECU) strives to be a place of belonging for all staff and students, with a commitment to supporting and celebrating our community members who are diverse in their gender, sexuality and/or have a variation of innate sex characteristics.
Derik's LGBTIQA+ experience
First year Psychology and Counselling student, Derik Grobler shares that his experience as an LGBTIQA+ young person hasn't always been easy.
"Growing up in a rural town, I had to hide my queerness just to feel safe," he said.
"There wasn't anything queer where I used to live, but now I feel a lot more confident about my queerness and I am more open about it.
"My favourite thing about being LGBTIQA+ would be the community, I love how everybody comes together for a common goal and can celebrate who they truly are." Derik said.
Safe spaces for LGBTIQA+ young people
Having experienced environments where there were no queer spaces, Derik stresses that it is important for young people to have a safe space to be themselves without worrying about being judged.
Facilitating these spaces for LGBTIQA+ young people are one of the aims of the ECU Queer Collective, a student run club that runs social activities and raises awareness of the struggles LGBTIQA+ people can face.
Derik is a general member of the Queer Collective's committee where he helps with the planning for new and upcoming events.
"At the Queer Collective, we try to make a safe space for queer people. We hold events where people can hang out with other queer people and just have some fun," he said.
Ongoing issues impact mental health
Awareness, advocacy and support is needed to address the struggles LGBTIQA+ young people face on a daily basis.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students, Equity and Indigenous) Professor Braden Hill said that educational spaces are still some of the most unsafe spaces of LGBTIQA+ young people.
"For me, while I enjoyed much of my educational journey, visibility of LGBTIQA+ communities and experiences just didn't exist," he said.
"When it was present in the classroom or playground it was almost always a negative thing.
"This is still an issue and one that impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of young LGBTIQA+ people. This is only compounded when we consider intersectionality," Professor Hill said.
Walkern Katatdjin
Professor Hill has been part of Walkern Katatdjin, a national research project that aims to understand and promote the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQA+ young people.
The second phase of the national report recently came out which involved 619 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQA+ young people.
"Recent research shows that many young Indigenous and LGBTIQA+ people aged 14 to 25 had thought about or attempted suicide in their lifetime," Professor Hill said.
"The latest results support the urgent need to address risk factors for suicide, poor mental health and poor social and emotional wellbeing among Indigenous LGBTIQA+ young people.
"So, the importance of initiatives like Wear It Purple cannot be underestimated, it can help people thrive and save lives," he said.
How to be a good LGBTIQA+ Ally
Derik offers that to be a good ally to LGBTIQA+ people is to be more understanding.
"People are complex beings, and everybody is different. Be more understanding of queer people and don't dismiss what they have to say," Derik said.
Find out more about ECU's commitment to Equality and Diversity.
