Pretty in pink

My son's favorite color is pink. From a demure palest pink to an OMFG-knock-your-socks-off-I-mean-really-HOT-fuchsia pink, he likes 'em all. Which is why I noticed the following from GenderPAC when it arrived in my inbox:

Pretty in Pink: New Anti-Bullying Movement
Date: 22-Oct-2007

WASHINGTON – The fight to end bullying never looked prettier. Dressed in pink shirts and headbands, students at a Cambridge, Nova Scotia high school rallied to support a ninth grade male student who was called homophobic slurs and threatened with physical violence for wearing a pink polo shirt to school earlier this semester.

“It’s our last year and we want to make a difference. At a young age, you don’t know that difference between playful teasing and bullying,” said David Shepherd in an interview with The Daily News. “Doing it over the color pink is just so stupid.”

The "sea of pink" campaign started when David and fellow classmate Travis Price learned of the bullying incident. The two did not hesitate to e-mail their classmates and use various social networking websites to ask students to take a stand against bullying by wearing pink to school. More than half of the school’s 830 students wearing pink polos, tees, and other paraphernalia the following day.

The campaign has taken on a life of its own. The local police department is showing its support by wearing pink armbands. The Nova Scotian government has even designated the second Thursday of each school year as "Stand Up Against Bullying Day" and is asking students at all grade levels to wear pink. Countless schools across North America are also implementing "wear pink days" to show their solidarity to the anti-bullying cause.

"No one should be threatened just because of the color of their shirt, but that is too often the reality in schools," said Brittney Hoffman, Campus Director for the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition's GenderYOUTH Network. “Boys can be 'pretty in pink' too, and this shows how youth can help youth make schools safer.”

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The GenderYOUTH Network is a collaborative effort of student groups at over 100 colleges and universities working to ensure their campuses are GenderSAFE™ for all students, whether or not they fit expectations for masculinity and femininity.

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My son, BTW, is almost 12, makes no effort to hide his color preference and is not only not bullied for it but thought of as cool because of it.