Due to the corona virus lockdown this year, we focused on some powerful, quick things that people could do to show the love to trans, gender diverse and non-binary (TGDNB) people this Trans Day of Visibility. This included some great content to share on social media, and some beautiful posters to print and put in your windows. Not to mention, loads of great resources for learning about how to support TGDNB young people face in schools.
Wear it Purple Day (Aug 30th, 2019) - Developed Web page of Resources for WIPD
We did a project with Alex Stefan, from the board of Wear it Purple, around developing a web page with links to resources that could be used for talking about LGBTQIA+ issues with primary and secondary students. The page was then linked to from the Wear It Purple website.
IFED and IDAHOBIT (May 2019) - Project to encourage schools to celebrate.
To celebrate International Family Equality Day (IFED) May 5th, and International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) May 17th, this year, we did a project to encourage schools to show their support for rainbow students, families and teachers, and to revisit important discussions around embracing and respecting diversity and bias-based bullying. The webpage produced included:
info encouraging parents to let school know they wanted them to celebrate IFED and/or IDAHOBIT (including a sample letter)
social media content for parents to send to their friends to encourage support
info about running their own event, including how to access free school kits
and a big update to our resources for parents and teachers to use, when talking to kids and young people around family diversity, sexual diversity and gender diversity.
some suggestions for talking to adults or children who make unsupportive comments about any of the above.
School Advocacy session at Better Together Conference in Sydney - Jan 2019.
Rainbows in Schools teamed up with the Wear It Purple organisation to present a panel session on school-based advocacy. Panel members included (from left to right) Megan Grigg (Rainbows in Schools), Alex Stefan (Wear It Purple board member), Chelsea Hendra (Wear It Purple Youth Advisory Council member), Mel Smith (NSW Teachers Federation), Jac Tomlins (writer, speaker, advocate) and Ari Dunphy (psychotherapist from Queerspace), and . Each panelist gave a brief presentation, followed by lively questions from the audience. The session was very well attended.
Social media campaign for submissions to Religious Freedom Review.
In October 2018, following information that the Australian Christian Lobby was running a letter writing campaign into the Religious Freedom Review, we ran one of our own, including a sample letter, encouraging people to write in expressing their concerns about the right to discriminate.
Submitted a project for Pick My Project, to be auspiced by Queerspace.
In August 2018, the Victorian state government ran a campaign called Pick My Project, encouraging groups to put forward projects to be voted on by the local community. The most popular projects would then be funded.
We proposed a project, to be auspiced by Queerspace, called Accelerating Inclusion. The plan was to develop online resources and workshops, to assist parents in advocating for more inclusive schools.
We got very close, but unfortunately just missed out.
Poster - Thoughts on Marriage Equality Survey, by Darebin Young People.
In August and September 2018, we collaborated on a project with the office of Ged Kearney, MP. The aim of the project was to show that young people in Darebin, Vic, were concerned about the marriage equality vote that was occurring at the time. We collected quotes and put together a poster.
The poster was displayed in local Neighbourhood Houses, and included in the Neighbourhood House newsletter.
Wear it Purple Day (Aug 31, 2018) - teamed up with local MP Ged Kearney, to send letter to school principals, inviting participation.
Rainbows in Schools did two HUGE Wear it Purple Day (WIPD) projects.
1) We wrote a letter for parents to send to school leadership encouraging them to celebrate Wear it Purple Day, and linking to web pages we put together about ideas for celebrating, as well as classroom content that teachers could use to link in with the celebrations. These resources were promoted via social media, and were shared by many organisations all over the country.
2) We also teamed up with the Wear It Purple organisation, and Ged Kearney (member for Cooper), to send Wear It Purple stickers and posters to every school in the Cooper electorate, along with a letter encouraging them to celebrate WIPD. This project resulted in seven primary schools and five high schools celebrating Wear it Purple day for the first time.
See here for link to the page promoting WIPD 2018.
https://www.rainbowsinschools.org/wear-it-purple-day/
Darebin Community Award
In August 2018, we received a Darebin Community Award, for our work in putting together the Darebin Family Fun Day in September 2017.
Invite your school community to celebrate Wear It Purple on Aug 31st.
Today we launched our letter to principals and school leadership, with ideas about different ways in which schools could celebrate lgbtqia+ youth on Aug 31st.
Let’s encourage our school communities to celebrate diversity on Wear It Purple Day, Aug 31st !
We are all different, it’s what makes our community such a wonderful place to live: the colourful mix of cultures, sexuality, pet owners, religions, skills and more, needs to be celebrated.
The more all diversity is celebrated and embraced the easier it will be for our kids to be proud to be themselves no matter who they are, and to embrace differences in others.
Wear it Purple Day celebrates the diversity of families and provides support and inclusion for kids from rainbow families and those that are discovering their own LGBTQIA+ identity.
Celebrating it is simple!
Please approach the principal and school leadership team of your local school to encourage them to celebrate diversity with Wear It Purple Day. We've written a letter that explains why this is important, suggests ways schools can participate, and has info about how schools can get all the awesome FREE merchandise.
And if your school is reluctant to do something officially, check out the letter for suggestions about what you can do to celebrate diversity and Wear It Purple on August 31st.
Share this around, and let's get as many school communities as possible to Wear It Purple!!!!
And you can check out our website for more info about how you can Wear It Purple.
https://www.rainbowsinschools.org/wear-it-purple-day/
Ideas for using the letter:
- You can email it to your school's principal and your child's teachers. Or print it, and take it in person.
- Why not email it to your friends in the school community, so they can do the same? The more people that email or talk to the school about Wear It Purple, the more likely they are to recognize its importance and celebrate it.
- How about making it a post on your Facebook page, and sending it to the school's parents' Facebook group, inviting them to bring it up with the school?
- And what about posting it in other social media where parents and teachers will see it?
- And for teachers - you can send it to other teachers via email or social media so that they can use it in their schools. And how about sending it to your union and other professional groups so they can publicize it?
