GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) is sponsoring the International STAND UP to Bullying Day; it is this Friday and will focus on creating awareness about bullying and give support to those who are bullied.

“I hope that kids will be more aware of bullying and realize that even if you’re joking or not trying to bully someone, you can still hurt their feelings,” said junior Anthony Milunas, the president of GSA. “You should really pay more attention to the way people react and respond to what you say.”

GSA is encouraging LHS students and staff to wear pink to show their support to people who are bullied, and they e showed a video about the day during third period classes on Thursday. The video can be seen at https://docs.google.com/ a/d128.org/file/d/0B2gYMsGZ_ytWbTNEekNYMmZ5QmM/editusp=drive_web

“We have posters that are going to be up until Friday, reminding people to wear pink to show your support. We have a poster that talks about the choice of language,” said Ms. Dyan Naslund, the supervisor of GSA. “There’s so many other words to choose aside from ‘retarded,’ or instead of ‘gay’.”

GSA is also asking students to upload an encouraging video to the “#lvillepride” tag on Instagram and Twitter. At their next meeting, they will choose the best video, with the maker of that video winning a $50 gift card. The purpose of the videos, according to Milunas, is “to spread words of encouragement to those who are bullied or to those who may feel like they don’t have a lot of friends, kind of an ‘it gets better’ statement.”

These videos will offer support and let students know that times may be tough now, but they will get better eventually. GSA hopes these videos will help people through difficult times.

The STAND UP to Bullying Day was created in 2008 by an organization called Bully Help Initiatives; this is LHS’ first year incorporating the STAND UP to Bullying Day, but GSA hopes to continue it in the future. The tradition of wearing pink shirts was started in defence of a student who was bullied because he wore a pink shirt to school.