Major League Baseball proudly goes purple for #SpiritDay

 

In celebration of Spirit Day 2016, Major League Baseball and Twitter teamed up with GLAAD to launch a #SpiritDay emoji in support of LGBTQ youth and to take a stand against bullying. MLB’s work with Twitter is one of many activations in baseball. Teams from the American and National League went purple on their Twitter pages and sent out messages to fans to inspire hope and support. 

MLB’s vocal and active promotion of Spirit Day demonstrates their continued support of the LGBTQ community. “MLB is proud to join Twitter and GLAAD in celebrating Spirit Day. By going purple we take a stand against bullying, and show our support for LGBT youth. Seeing our 30 clubs embrace this important day is a great example of our commitment to an inclusive and accepting environment throughout baseball," Billy Bean, MLB Vice President of Social Responsibility and Inclusion. 

Tonight, Bean will be at Dodger Stadium prior to NLCS Game Five playoff (Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers) where he will wear a special purple t-shirt with #SpiritDay and the accompanying Twitter emoji to demonstrate MLB's commitment to the cause. 

Each year, millions of people "go purple" for Spirit Day in a united stand against bullying and to show support for LGBTQ youth. According to a 2015 GLSEN survey, more than half of LGBTQ students report being victimized based on sexual orientation, with a further three quarters of students who report hearing anti-LGBTQ remarks in school. Started in 2010 by high school student Brittany McMillan, Spirit Day now draws the participation of celebrities, corporations, media outlets, sports leagues, schools, faith institutions, national landmarks, and individuals around the world, who join together in a united stand against bullying.

Check out glaad.org/spiritday for more about how to stand against bullying and show support for LGBTQ youth. Also follow @GLAAD on Twitter to keep up to date with #spiritday news.

Spirit Day is made possible by the generous support of its presenting partners Target and Wells Fargo, official partners, NBA and WNBA, NFL, Viacom, and WWE, and supporting partners, American Eagle Outfitters, Barilla, Comcast NBCUniversal, Kellogg’s, Kirkland & Ellis, Toyota Financial Services, and Zipcar. The translation of GLAAD’s Spirit Day Resource Kit into multiple languages is made possible by a generous grant from Google supporting GLAAD’s Global Voices Initiative. Global Spirit Day resource kits are presented by Logo’s Global Ally campaign.

Past participants in Spirit Day include the White House, the Empire State Building, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Cher, Laverne Cox, Kim Kardashian, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Shaquille O'Neal, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The View, The Talk, The Tonight Show, MTV, the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, WWE, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, the Las Vegas Strip, and more.

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