Spirit Day 2017 is an event started by GLAAD and Brittany McMillian in 2010 to show support for bullied LGBTQIA youth. It is held the third Thursday of every October. On Spirit Day, people are encouraged to wear purple and show their support via social media platforms. For LGBTQIA teens, this is a day to receive support and encouragement that things really do get better.

Today we celebrate LGBTQIA youth, their diversity, and their many contributions. Here are 10 inspiring quotes for the LGBTQIA:

1. "No person is your friend you demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." --Alice Walker

2. "When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."--Barack Obama
3. "All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement. We are no more - and no less - heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century; and the labor organizers, Freedom Riders, Stonewall demonstrators, and environmentalists of the 20th century. We are ordinary people, living our lives, and trying as civil-rights activist Dorothy Cotton said, to 'fix what ain't right' in our society."--Senator Tammy Baldwin
4. "Ultimately, I want Spirit Day to make just one person feel a little better about his or herself, to feel safe enough in their own skin to be proud of who they are." --Brittany McMillian, Spirit Day Ambassador

5. "I've been embraced by a new community. That's what happens when you're finally honest about who you are; you find others like you." --Chaz Bono
6. “I want to do the right thing and not hide anymore. I want to march for tolerance, acceptance, and understanding. I want to take a stand and say, “Me, too.’ “ --Jason Collins
7. “There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s a lot wrong with the world you live in.” --Chris Colfer

8. "We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity." - George Takei

   9. "This world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to be less horrible to one another." - Ellen Page

   10. "Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."--Harvey Fierstein

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