International Day of Pink hits Humber North

Apr 14, 2016 | Life

(Flickr: William Murphy)

(Flickr/William Murphy)

Jessenia Feijo and Gabrielle Austin

On Wednesday, Toronto and its surrounding areas showed their contribution in raising awareness to combat bullying, homophobia, transphobia and transmisogyny, by wearing the color pink.

The history of the International Day of Pink began in 2007, when two Grade 12 students in a Nova Scotia high school saw a younger student being bullied for wearing a pink shirt.

Jennifer Amaya, a Humber ECE student, said she couldn’t help but take part on this day. On top of wearing a pink shirt around campus, Amaya paired it with a pink lip to match.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t know how important this day is. This day shows people that incidents, like the one that marked this day one to remember, that disgusting acts such as these don’t go unnoticed,” said Amaya. “It is disgusting though if you really think about it. That now, in 2016, these acts that we work so hard to end still happen. When does it end?”

“…Being someone who had to go through bullying and stuff in school, knowing that there’s a day to celebrate people like me for just being themselves and to take a step away from bullying, its really important to me that stuff like this happens.” – Emily Richardson, Resource and Events Assistant for Humber’s LGBTQ Resource Centre.

Emily Richardson, a Resource and Events Assistant for Humber’s LGBTQ Resource Centre, is a firm advocate for this day.

“Being a member of the LGBTQ community when I was coming out, I did have too go through different kinds of reactions. Some good, some bad. The bad ones caused me too feel bad about question and myself who I was and whether not I was right for coming out,” said Richardson.

To see people’s reactions and get their thoughts, the Resource Centre played Jenny’s Wedding, a film when Jenny decides to marry a woman and her conventional family must accept who she is or risk losing her forever.

Richardson said attendees were encouraged to wear pink.

“I think that’s its always really good to take a day to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Not only that but to also just to celebrate being comfortable in one’s skin,” said Richardson.

“Being someone who had to go through bullying and stuff in school, knowing that there’s a day to celebrate people like me for just being themselves and to take a step away from bullying, its really important to me that stuff like this happens.”

“This is not about clothing, its making real changes in your schools and communities.” – Jeremy Dias, Director for the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity. 

Richardson also said that Humber is very welcoming compared to other schools she has attended.

Jeremy Dias, the Director for the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, said it should be taken very seriously.

Dias, originally from Alberta, was bullied so bad that he sued his high school and used the money to create the centre and celebrate the International Day of Pink.

“International Day of Pink reminds us that we all have a voice and can affect change.” – Christopher Karas, Paralegal Education student at Humber

To Dias it’s about engaging, supporting and creating cultures of diversity and respect.

“Legislation has come along way but this isn’t about legislation. It’s about hearts and minds. For us, to change hearts and minds we need to change attitudes and behaviors,” said Dias.

Dias said that this years’ theme is about dialogue, about having conversations and creating safe spaces that make our schools and communities better.

“International Day of Pink reminds us that we all have a voice and can affect change,” said Christopher Karas, a first year Paralegal Education student at Humber’s North campus.