Local expert says we’re getting better at combatting discrimination
Posted Apr 13, 2016 8:38 am.
Last Updated Apr 13, 2016 8:40 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Brace yourselves, there is bound to be a lot of salmon, fuscia and rose-coloured shirts in your class or workplace Wednesday.
It’s the “International Day of Pink”, a day set aside to draw attention to issues like homophobia and to inspire action to erase hate.
It first began after two high school students in Nova Scotia noticed one of their classmates was being bullied for wearing pink.
They went out and bought pink shirts and wore them to school the following day as a sign of solidarity.
Tad Milmine is the Calgary Police officer behind “Bullying Ends Here”: he’s encouraged and believes we are getting better as a society, but adds there is more work to be done.
“For me, I think the intent behind the creation of the day is to get a conversation started about anti-bullying, homophobia, kind of like anything negative towards another person and that’s where ‘Bullying Ends Here’ comes into play because for us, we wear the pink shirt every day. Everyday we’re doing a presentation, whether it’s in schools, or community groups or today a business corporate event, it’s wearing the pink shirt because we feel it’s very important that conversation really does keeping going for 365 days a year.”
Milmine says we can’t afford to let up on the conversation, quoting a recent study from the University of Alberta that shows a reduction in derogatory, homophobic names online.
“I think the tide is turning, like everything else though it’s a slow process because it’s education,” he said.
He says it’s still an epidemic, given things like cyber-bullying in schools is still popping up.
“The kids aren’t our problem,” he said. “It’s the adults that are, because the education wasn’t there years ago. This is something that’s more recent.”
The anti-bullying advocate has written a book about his life called “Bullying Ends Here; My Life”, it’s available on his website.
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