Betty White goes ‘Betty Purple’ for Spirit Day

GLAAD announced last Wednesday. The cast recorded a video for GLAAD speaking out in support of LGBT youth.

Supporters are encouraged to take the Spirit Day pledge at glaad.org/spiritday

“I’m Betty White, but this October 17th, call me Betty Purple,” ‘Hot in Cleveland’ star Betty White announced in the exclusive Spirit Day video. “And the whole cast of ‘Hot in Cleveland’ will be joining in on Spirit Day and showing our support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth,” adds Malick.

The ‘Hot in Cleveland’ cast is joined by Eric Petersen of TV Land’s newest sitcom ‘Kirstie,’ who also recorded a video message of support for LGBT youth. Additionally, TV Land will turn its on-air logo purple for Spirit Day on October 17.

GLAAD and Toyota Financial Services today also launched the “Go Purple for #SpiritDay powered by Toyota Financial Services” apps for iPhone and Android. The app provides users with anti-bullying resources, calls to action, and a tool that can turn photos purple and share to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The free app is now available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. To download, visit: glaad.org/spiritday/app

“As a company committed to ensuring equality and respect for all people, and dedicated to improving the lives of youth everywhere, Toyota Financial Services and the entire Toyota family are thrilled to once again join hands with GLAAD to show support for those who have been bullied or who fear being bullied,” said Ann Bybee, Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Communications & Community Relations.  “While our society is making tremendous progress combating bullying behaviors in schools and communities across the country, it is still a devastating epidemic against which we must take a stand.  Going purple for Spirit Day is an easy, simple, yet powerful way to show support, open a dialogue, and send a clear message that bullying of any kind isn’t acceptable.”

GLAAD previously announced that MTV talent including Ke$ha, Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi and Jenni ‘JWOWW’ Farley from ‘Snooki and JWOWW,’ and Nev Schulman and Max Joseph from ‘Catfish: The TV Show’; trans athlete and advocate Kye Allums; openly gay basketball player Jason Collins; the cast of TeenNick’s ‘Degrassi’; celebrity radio host Elvis Duran; WNBA player Brittney Griner; 12 year-old transgender advocate and star of ‘I am Jazz: A family in transition’ Jazz; Archie Comics’ Kevin Keller; Extra Host Maria Menounos; country music artist Kacey Musgraves, and Spanish-language talk show host Cristina Saralegui will also ‘go purple’ for Spirit Day on October 17.

Participating national landmarks include Las Vegas’ Fremont Street Experience, the LAX pylon lights, the New York Stock Exchange, and Times Square.

Corporations including American Eagle Outfitters, Brown-Forman Corporation, Caesars Foundation, Cresa, Delta Air Lines, DigitasLBi, esurance, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Ketel One Vodka, MTV, MSLGROUP, NASDAQ, PwC, Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, razorfish, Sheppard Mullin, Starcom MediaVest, Thomson Reuters, Toyota Financial Services, Wells Fargo, Westfield Group, ZipCar, and ZenithOptimedia will also participate in Spirit Day. Participating companies will distribute information to employees about wearing purple and/or turn their logo purple on October 17.

Local, national, and international organizations including Basic Rights Oregon; Bienestar; the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation; Capetown Pride; CenterLink; Circle of Voices Inc.; Coalicion por los Derechos Humanos; Equality Maryland; Equality Ohio; Fair Wisconsin; Family Equality Council; Forum for Equality; Friendfactor; Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD); Georgia Equality; Georgia Safe Schools Coalition; Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD); GroundSpark; Hetrick-Martin Institute; Human Rights Campaign (HRC); the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of New  York City; Missouri GSA Network; One Iowa; PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center; Palm Beach County Human Rights Council; PROMO; the Q Center; Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders; Santa Fe Mountain Center; Stonewall National Education Project; Straight But Not Narrow; Sunserve; Tennessee Equality Project; Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF); the Trevor Project; True Colors Fund; and We Are Family will all participate by wearing purple on October 17, turning their social media channels purple, and encouraging members to participate.

For a complete list of celebrity participants, media outlets, TV networks, organizations and corporations visit glaad.org/spiritday. Additional participants to be announced.

Millions wear purple on Spirit Day as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. Spirit Day was started in 2010 as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. With GLAAD’s help, Spirit Day has since garnered widespread support from celebrities, TV news and entertainment programs, corporations, organizations, schools, local communities, and even national landmarks. Spirit Day coincides with GLSEN’s Ally Week, as well as National Bullying Prevention Month.

According to GLSEN’s 2011 National School Climate Survey, 63.5% of LGBT students reported feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, 43.9% because of their gender expression. GLSEN also reported that 81.9% of LGBT students report being verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation, and 27.1% because of their gender expression.

Previous Spirit Day participants include The White House, Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, Cher, Shaquille O’Neal, The View, The Talk, The Tonight Show, Extra, the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, the Las Vegas Strip, and more. For more information, visit glaad.org/spiritday