Facebook Turning Purple For LGBT Spirit Day: How To Change Your Profile Picture

Facebook is best known for its blue hue, but on October 20, the site is embracing a new color: purple.

To commemorate the second annual Spirit Day, which is dedicated to supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth as well as fighting bullying and harassment, Facebook is partnering with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to encourage its employees and users to post purple profile photos on Facebook.

According to GLAAD, the color purple represents "spirit" on the rainbow flag and "wearing purple on this day symbolizes support for LGBT people and against bullying of LGBT teens."

Two of Facebook's Pages, Facebook Diversity and Facebook Safety, will show their support for Spirit Day by adopting purple profile pictures come Thursday.

"On Thursday, Oct. 20, we encourage you to wear purple as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying," Facebook Diversity wrote in a status update.

GLAAD has created a Spirit Day site that offers people ways to "purple" their Facebook pictures, Twitter avatars, Google+ photos and more. Users that sync their social media accounts will be able to instantly add a purple hue to their profile pictures.

AT&T, Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard, Comcast and Viacom are among the other technology companies that plan to participate in Spirit Day. AT&T, for example, will light its headquarters in purple on October 20 and encourage employees to wear purple, while Yahoo plans to take photos of employees dressed in purple in the company's offices around the country.

Facebook has launched several initiatives that specifically aim to stop bullying online and support the LGBT community. Last year, Facebook joined forces with five LGBT advocacy organizations that "serve in a consultative capacity to help Facebook effectively address issues faced by the LGBT community" and comprise the company's Network of Support group.

Earlier this year, Facebook also expanded its relationship status options to include "civil union" and "domestic partnership," a change that was made in consultation with the advocacy groups.

Comments

[aHazMatHoney]

11:18 PM on 10/20/2011

Very cool with the new 'status' choices. It was surprising to see, and much appreciated!

[Bfry420]

04:14 PM on 10/20/2011

Yeah ain't that somethin'. Went all out on twitter photo.

[TheNextVoiceofYouth]

03:10 PM on 10/20/2011

Facebook is still blue.... but I'm wearing purple because it's my favorite color. Glad it is being used for GLBT support.

[LVMomma]

12:42 PM on 10/20/2011

I am using today to fight an awful event in Las Vegas sponsored by our own city council that will feature a speaker for Teen Town Hall whom profits from homophobic hate speech.

Please tell city Councilman Ricki Barlow that HATE is not OK and the high school teen town hall which has in the past featured accomplished speakers is a disgrace when he invites a fighter to speak in order to fix his PR problems.

www.VegasfortheFamily.com I have links to the source materials and ways to contact the City of Las Vegas Nevada, Ricki Barlow, our Mayor, and our school district.

Thank you in advance for your support - WE STILL HAVE TIME TO STOP THIS!

[DeathSquad]

11:46 AM on 10/20/2011

FABULOUS!

[jwald1]

11:33 AM on 10/20/2011

I thought facebook was turning purple today, it is still blue.

[BlindChance]

11:02 AM on 10/20/2011

My favorite color :) I'm glad it's being used for good, like pink (my second fave) with breast cancer.

[chasgato]

10:22 AM on 10/20/2011

wait, Barney's gay?

[KeyWestDan]

11:32 AM on 10/20/2011

No....just Di-curious.

[Guardian Weasel]

02:38 PM on 10/20/2011

Okay, that's pretty good.

[loaferguy]

12:33 PM on 10/20/2011

No, but Tinky Winky definitely is.

[craftycrow]

10:14 AM on 10/20/2011

I wish they'd keep it purple. I'm sick of the muted blue.

[chicagoian9]

11:38 AM on 10/20/2011

I read somewhere that the FB site is blue and white, and generally un-colorful, because Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind. But, I do agree that there should be a color change every now and then. I like the simplicity of the design, but don't think it would hurt to change up the colors once or twice a year.

[craftycrow]

12:00 PM on 10/20/2011

...Or at least let each person decide what their menu bar color is. It would be so easy and would still keep the same minimal feel of the site.

[YanksWS96]

10:12 AM on 10/20/2011

Wearing a color and actually doing something about it are two completely different things.

But I do like that people are thinking about it.

[sb250guy]

09:58 AM on 10/20/2011

I have nothing against it. It's OK by me. But it is also a great corporate way to do nearly nothing and pretend you're doing something. That's not just just cynicism. Corporations are legally obligated to benefit shareholders first and foremost. They wouldn't do something like this if they hadn't done a full cost / benefit analysis. Apparently, they decided it was a net gain.

[WilliamWalton]

10:36 AM on 10/20/2011

Is this why Howard Schultz has kept health insurance for his employees despite shareholders wanting to change his mind? It would have been much cheaper for them to eliminate the health insurance for PT workers.

[sb250guy]

10:46 AM on 10/20/2011

Well, within the paradigm, there are decisions to be made. There are those who only care about quarterly performanc­e. There are those who think it is strategic to look farther down the road. But the bottom line eventually dictates most decisions. If someone is making altruistic decisions in a position of power in a corporatio­n, they are putting themselves at risk. The supreme court has decided on that before. I'm not saying I like it. I'm just say that you need to think about that any time a corporatio­n appears to be doing something out of the kindness of its corporate heart.

[PDXTransplant]

03:14 PM on 10/20/2011

Kinda like praying.

[Pennsanic]

09:44 AM on 10/20/2011

I find FB creepy but I like this suggestion.

[AraBrokenDreamer]

09:24 AM on 10/20/2011

Who cares whether this act in and of itself is actually a deterrent? the way I see it, this tells people around them how much support the cause has, and both bullies and the bullied can see that. I'm straight, but I was teased for being a geek and a loser all through grade school, so I support ending bullying of any type. Just because you don't think it'll do anything on a grand scale doesn't mean you don't contribute. What do tailgating and cheering at football games really do? It effects morale.

-Ara

[Frank Hoffman]

09:04 AM on 10/20/2011

A little advance notice would have been nice. And why not all Facebook pages?

[Alices Amanita]

08:52 AM on 10/20/2011

Our Spirit Day Event Page! https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=274435945924064 Stop the Hate and support the cause!