Wear it Purple Day

This year at SFX, we are participating in Wear It Purple Day on Friday 19 August—the actual date is a week later, but our Year 12s will be on retreat then and many would like to be a part of this.

At SFX we acknowledge this day in a very simple way, by providing any student who wishes to participate with a piece of purple ribbon which is given to them at either recess or lunch. The students who distribute the ribbon will have the following information displayed on a poster behind them:

Some statistics from BeyondBlue

• One in five LGB Australians is currently experiencing depression, which is more than triple the rate of heterosexual Australians.
• One in three LGB Australians is currently experiencing an anxiety condition, which is more than double the rate of heterosexual Australians
• LGBTI people are far more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual people
  • LGBT people are between 3.5 and 14 times more likely to try and die by suicide as their heterosexual peers.⁸
• One in six young LGBTI people has attempted suicide and one third have harmed themselves
  • 16% of LGBTI Australians aged between 16 and 27 have attempted suicide and 33% have self-harmed.⁹Looking at transgender young people specifically, around 3 in every 4 transgender young people have experienced anxiety or depression, 4 out of 5 transgender young people have ever engaged in self-harm, and almost 1 in 2 have ever attempted suicide (48%).¹⁰