More than just a wardrobe change: Wear It Purple Day

Wear It Purple Day is an opportunity to openly support and stand with young people from the LGBTQIA+ community. Sadly, LGBTQIA+ people are twice as likely to experience homelessness.

Almost one-third of Launch Housing staff identify as LGBTQIA+. We sat down with Danielle Leigh, who has been instrumental in fostering a supportive environment here at Launch, to talk about why visual allyship matters.

 

Hello! Can you explain to us who you are and what you do at Launch Housing?  

I’m Danielle. I prefer to be called Dan. I use ‘she’ and ‘they’ pronouns interchangeably.

I’m the Group Manager of People, so HR, learning and development, health and safety, and now, diversity. My job is to set up an environment that nourishes and supports staff.

We’re making a big push for psychological safety to be a more significant part of the conversation in the workplace.I don’t think you can do psychological safety well, or even at all unless you understand what that means for different people and their experiences. If you’re queer, your experience will be a very different lived experience than if you identify as Aboriginal, if you have a disability, or if you have an intersection of all of these things.

So on one day you could be feeling very strongly about one sort of thing and on another day feel very strongly about another sort of thing, like to do with your own personal identity and how you are in the world and, specifically for Launch Housing, how you are in the workplace.

What is Wear It Purple Day, and why is it important? 

Wear It Purple Day is a really important day to show inclusivity to young queer people in particular – it’s very convenient that our branding is purple! It’s a day to wear an item of purple clothing and show visible allyship. It says, “I support a young person to be exactly who they are, and they don’t need to worry about being stigmatised because they don’t fit the gender binary, or because they love a woman instead of a man”, or whatever it is that is relevant for them.

Sometimes allyship is just about being able to be seen as an ally without necessarily doing anything. Sometimes it’s stepping in so that you’re not just being a bystander.

How do allyship, diversity, and inclusion in a workplace help the way we serve our clients? 

The first thing is that we shouldn’t assume that someone who’s from a diverse group wants a worker who’s from that same group. Sometimes the communities are small, so you might not want your community to know that you’re experiencing homelessness, financial issues, etc.

As an organisation, if we are being more diverse and inclusive and have our staff understand and speak the language internally, that will come through in our services.

For example, if we meet and you happen to see that I’m wearing a badge that tells you about my pronouns, you already know something about me and how I would like you to see me and work with me. If I’m wearing that with a client, that’s also a sign to them that I know something about the LGBTQIA+ world.

If they’re someone who is not on the gender binary, or they don’t identify as a “she” or a “he” or whatever, that actually feels really welcoming and inclusive. It’s like a little signal that you get it and that you’re someone who they can be a bit more open and vulnerable with.

Our clients are some of the most vulnerable people, so allowing them to be their full selves while they’re in crisis can make it that little bit easier for them without having to carry that extra load. They don’t have to worry about being stigmatised by our service, and it’s one less thing that they have to deal with when they’re already dealing with domestic violence, or being kicked out of home for being who they are, or whatever it is. That’s why it’s really important.

How do changing perspectives of different generations influence the way Launch Housing approaches its mission, especially in supporting the LGBTQIA+ community? 

In a way, the work that our staff do is really part of this bigger mission. I think what we can do could be really impactful, not just for people experiencing homelessness but for the community as a whole.

The world that I grew up in is very different to the world that Zoomers grew up in. And it’s fast becoming their world. They’re leading the narrative around this stuff. What I would think as a 40-year-old sort of queer person is very different to what a 20-year-old or a 15-year-old queer person is going to think and feel and experience. It’s a journey.

If a young person is experiencing homelessness because their parents reject the fact that they’re trans, the quality of service they receive from us will be exactly the same. If they want a queer-specific service, then maybe that’s something that we would help them work out. There’s a choice, which is something I think a lot of queer people don’t often get.
 
Wear It Purple Day on 25th August 2023 isn’t just a change of wardrobe, it’s an opportunity to empower young people to be their authentic selves. Join us in wearing purple as a visible ally. Together, we can create a more inclusive society.