Aucklanders are being encouraged to wear pink this Friday in support of a movement to stand up against bullying and to spread love and kindness - Pink Shirt Day.
Led by the Mental Health Foundation, New Zealanders are being asked to wear pink on Friday 17 May, to Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!
Among them will be Auckland Councillor Richard Hills, who is once again pleased to support Pink Shirt Day, alongside more than 5000 others from schools, workplaces and communities across New Zealand.
“I have always emphasised the importance of kindness and compassion and speaking up for others,” says Cr Hills. “There’s some pretty ugly discussion and behaviour going on out there, especially online."
"We need to take care of each other and build a positive orientated community. It’s important we all speak up and stand together to stop all forms of bullying."
Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying after a fellow student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Ending homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying remains a focus of the campaign.
“Young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, gender diverse, intersex, or anywhere on the rainbow community spectrum, experience high rates of bullying, particularly at school,” says Cr Hills.
"People often find out they do not have support from their family, church, or workplace - and this makes things that much harder for many in the rainbow community."
"We also must acknowledge the recent attack against the Muslim community in Christchurch - it was a shocking, heartbreaking and extreme example of hate and discrimination."
"Pink Shirt Day encourages us to challenge negative behaviours and attitudes around us, and enables us to demonstrate our support for people of all ages, backgrounds and orientations.”
This year, Pink Shirt Day has introduced several new elements to equip schools to create more inclusive, welcoming environments that prevent bullying.
The Mental Health Foundation has funded InsideOUT to run a series or workshops with students and teachers across Aotearoa on creative inclusive environments for rainbow young people. Those covered practical things like having gender neutral uniforms and bathrooms and ensuring LGBTQIA+ representation across the curriculum.
They also teamed up with Sparklers who have created new well-being activities for schools that provide children/tamariki with meaningful tools they can use in challenging situations, to empower them and help them empower others.
Preventing bullying in the workplace has also been a top priority for the Pink Shirt Day campaign.
"The Mental Health Foundation has recently released a bullying prevention resource that helps leaders, managers and teams to create positive work environments and cultures where mana-enhancing, open communication is the norm so bullying cannot thrive,” says Hills.
“I encourage everyone to wear something pink on Friday and start having these conversations. You never know just how much your actions might mean to others around you.”
