Purple Friday: students and staff celebrate LGBTQ+ community

“Most people we talked to didn’t actually know about Purple Friday, and weren’t wearing purple. But they were enthusiastic, and when we spoke to them, they wanted a bracelet to show their support”, says a volunteer at the Androclus building. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is giving away purple bracelets and cookies, both at Androclus and the Prof. Dr. H. Jakob building.

Since 2010, secondary schools across the Netherlands have been wearing purple on the second Friday of December to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness of the problems they still face, such as bullying, discrimination, and safety issues. In recent years, higher education institutions such as Utrecht University have started to organise activities around the date as well.

Associate Professor Louis Penning is a helping hand at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, welcoming people and facilitating conversations about the day. Although the activity was a success, with all cookies and bracelets gone within a few hours, Penning has higher hopes for next year and would like the university to provide more support. “A bit more visibility from the university would be great: for example, they can promote activities through social media or raise the purple flag on campus in solidarity.” 

Associate Professor Louis Penning. Photo: DUB

Marking yourself as an ally
Meanwhile, the inclusion committee of the Life Sciences study association ULSV Amino is holding its annual bake sale to raise money for an LGBTQ+ charity. This year, the profits will go to LGBT+ Asylum Support, which helps queer asylum seekers across the Netherlands.

“A lot of people learned about this event through the advertisements of our association, but a large number of attendees are just people in the building who happened to come across it, and don’t necessarily know what Purple Friday is”, says Anna Novolt, one of the organisers. International students are also not familiar with the date, as it is a Dutch tradition. 

The students from ULSV Amino gladly take the opportunity to explain the importance of the date. Anna: “Purple Friday brings the community together. For me personally, it’s also a fun opportunity to dress up in purple”.

Maurits Al Kenany agrees. The student, who is sporting a purple sweater, finds it “important to wear purple, as it’s a nice gesture for friends, peers, and the queer community in general. When you do it, you are standing with people who have it hard, you’re marking yourself as an ally”. 

The ULSV Amino bake sale. Photo: DUB

Different
TrotCie, the Queer (and Questioning) group from A-Eskwadraat, the study association for students of Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Information Science, organised a room day to celebrate, share snacks, do quizzes and more. Marit Klein Meulekamp, a member of the group, emphasises: “In our programme, it can feel very ‘different’ to be queer. So, we find it really important to have this committee and this day to raise awareness, come together and celebrate our diversity.”

Cas Dinnissen, another student present at the event but not wearing purple (“It completely slipped my mind, but I still very much support the cause!”), echoes the sentiment that the university should provide more visibility to Purple Friday events. “UU could send an email or some advertisement to everyone to raise awareness about it, and remind people."

TrotCie, the Queer (and Questioning) group from A-Eskwadraat. Photo: DUB