Purple Friday to move to the second Friday of October from 2026

From 2026 onwards, Dutch LGBTQIA+ organisation COC Nederland, in consultation with schools, will move Purple Friday (Paarse Vrijdag) to the beginning of the school year. The annual day of solidarity with LGBTQIA+ students will now take place on the second Friday of October, instead of in December.

For the 2026–2027 school year, this means Purple Friday will be observed on Friday 9 October 2026.

The decision follows feedback from schools that December is increasingly crowded with holidays, end-of-term activities and full agendas. 

Since Purple Friday has also been introduced in primary schools, many schools reported that the message of inclusion and acceptance was not receiving sufficient attention in the busy final month of the year. According to COC, the message that everyone should be able to be themselves at school requires both time and visibility.

By moving Purple Friday to October, the organisation hopes the event will no longer be the closing moment of the calendar year, but rather the starting signal for a new school year focused on diversity and safety. 

Schools will be encouraged to use the day and its educational resources to promote inclusion, particularly for queer students and education professionals, throughout the entire school year.

Looking ahead to 2026: solidarity and allyship

In 2026, Purple Friday will continue to build on recent themes of solidarity and allyship. COC stresses that in a world where people increasingly lose sight of one another, it remains crucial to show that standing up for each other matters. 

By supporting one another, space is created for everyone, and schools can become environments where students feel safe to be themselves, regardless of who they are, who they fall in love with, their skin colour or their beliefs.

The slogan for the upcoming year is: 'For each other, with each other. Together for the whole school'.

Call for feedback from schools and students

COC has also invited teachers, students and Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) members who participated in Purple Friday 2025 to share their experiences and suggestions through evaluation surveys. The organisation says this feedback is essential to improving the initiative year by year.

Why Purple Friday remains necessary

According to COC, attention to inclusive and safe schools remains urgently needed. In the past two years, the number of reported discrimination incidents against LGBTQIA+ people in the Netherlands has doubled, and discrimination against other minority groups has also increased. LGBTQIA+ young people are up to three times more likely to be bullied than their peers.

Research by the Dutch Government shows that the majority of the Dutch population holds positive views of the LGBTQ+ community, with acceptance ranging from 62% for trans and non-binary people to 86% for gay and lesbian people. However, increased discrimination is believed to be driven largely by a relatively small group, around 5 to 10% of the population, who hold strongly negative attitudes.

What is Purple Friday?

Purple Friday (Paarse Vrijdag) is a day on which pupils and students wear purple clothing at school to show solidarity with LGBTQIA+ people. The colour purple comes from the rainbow flag and symbolises spirit, representing individuality, character and diversity.

In the Netherlands, Purple Friday has traditionally been held on the second Friday of December since 2010, until the new date change takes effect in 2026.

The initiative is organised by the network of Gender & Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) supported by LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation COC.

Development in the Netherlands

Purple Friday was first organised in 2010 by Nazmul Zaman, a student at the Piter Jelles school community, who wanted to make sexual and gender diversity more visible and support LGBTQIA+ students.

Since then, the event has grown rapidly:

• 150 schools participated in the first edition in 2010, doubling the following year.
• By 2012, 450 of the Netherlands’ 680 secondary schools took part, distributing purple wristbands and showing educational videos.
• By 2014, more than 500 schools were participating.
• By 2024, Purple Friday activities were organised at around 1,900 primary schools and 1,000 secondary schools and vocational institutions.

The day has also sparked debate and resistance in recent years. In 2024, a survey by Dutch broadcaster NOS found that three-quarters of schools experienced some form of disagreement or protest around Purple Friday, including discussions, small acts of vandalism or students staying home. As a result, some schools stopped organising the event or replaced it with a more general 'day of respect'.

Safety and mental health concerns

Purple Friday was created partly because many schools are still not safe environments for LGBTQIA+ students. Research has shown that:

• Half of Dutch secondary school students struggle with public displays of homosexuality.
• LGBTQIA+ students report lower school enjoyment, weaker relationships with teachers and peers, and higher rates of bullying.
• More than half of students who have come out reported negative reactions in the previous year.
• Suicide attempts among LGBTQ+ youth are nearly five times more common than among heterosexual peers, with a documented link between bullying and suicide risk.

International context: Spirit Day in the United States and Canada

Purple Friday is inspired by Spirit Day, a North American initiative launched in 2010. Spirit Day was founded by Canadian student Brittany McMillan after a series of widely reported suicides among gay teenagers in the United States.

Spirit Day takes place on the third Thursday of October in the United States and Canada, and millions of people wear purple to oppose bullying and support LGBTQIA+ youth. The event is coordinated by advocacy organisation GLAAD and has received widespread public support, including participation by major sports leagues such as the NBA, NFL and NHL, celebrities, and media organisations. Buildings are lit in purple, and television and radio programmes highlight LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

A symbolic shift in the school calendar

By moving Purple Friday to October, COC aims to align the Dutch initiative more closely with the North American Spirit Day and to embed diversity and inclusion as a theme from the very start of the school year. The organisation hopes the earlier timing will encourage sustained engagement rather than a symbolic end-of-year gesture.

Whether the date change will reduce controversy or increase participation remains to be seen, but COC emphasises that the core goal remains unchanged: creating schools where every student can be themselves.

PAARS in Flanders and Brussels: from an international solidarity action to a broad awareness campaign

The PAARS campaign in Flanders and Brussels originated from an international solidarity initiative against bullying and discrimination of LGBTQIA+ young people.

The initiative was adopted in other countries, including the Netherlands and, from 2012 onwards, Belgium. That year, the PAARS campaign was introduced in Flanders by vzw JOEN (Jongeren Onder Eén Noemer), in collaboration with the organisation Trotse Ouders, a group for and by parents of LGBTQIA+ children.

The campaign was founded by Jeroen Thierens and grew into a structured project that expanded year after year with the support of volunteers, organisations and educational institutions. 

Since 2013, PAARS has been organised in Flanders and Brussels and has developed into a widely supported awareness campaign in education and beyond. By 2024, more than one hundred cities and municipalities supported the campaign, with numerous schools taking part.

PAARS is a project of Iedereen Divers and is supported by partners such as çavaria, Het Roze Huis and AP University of Applied Sciences. 

The youth-focused component, including educational materials on identity, was developed with the support of the Fonds De Warmste Week, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. Over the years, the campaign has grown in scope and content. 

In 2019, the PAARS newspaper was launched, an educational magazine with articles on sexual and gender diversity, developed in collaboration with students of Journalism and Graphic and Digital Media at AP University of Applied Sciences. The publication is updated annually and receives editorial support from Het Roze Huis.

From 2020 onwards, PAARS was also structurally embedded in higher education. All universities and universities of applied sciences in Flanders and Brussels committed to participate, and the campaign was organised in the European Parliament for the first time that year. 

Youth organisations and primary schools also joined, with even kindergarten schools participating. 

The PAARS newspaper was professionally translated into English to enable distribution in international contexts. 

In 2021, PAARS received the European Citizen’s Prize and was recognised for providing reliable, high-quality youth information. 

In 2023, PAARS vzw was established to further structure the campaign, and multilingual versions of the PAARS newspaper were developed. In 2024, the campaign was extended to residential care centres and local service centres and was integrated into a broader Diversity Week.

One of the key strengths of PAARS is its accessibility. Wearing the colour purple is an easy way for many people to show solidarity without explicitly identifying with rainbow symbolism or the LGBTQIA+ scene. 

This allows the campaign to reach a broad audience, including young people who are still exploring their identity or who do not wish to label themselves. At the same time, PAARS complements broader rainbow initiatives and reinforces them.

The campaign also plays a role in education policy. The Flemish attainment targets for secondary education require students to understand sexual and gender diversity and to respond respectfully to bullying and exclusion. PAARS provides schools with educational materials and pedagogical support, as research shows that many teachers find it difficult to discuss LGBTQIA+ topics in the classroom and have limited time or expertise. The educational resources developed by PAARS are seen as a practical tool to help schools meet these learning objectives.

In addition, the campaign places strong emphasis on sustainability and long-term impact. Materials such as wristbands are made from recycled materials, and printed materials are produced as much as possible on FSC-certified paper. 

PAARS does not position itself as a one-day action, but as a year-round project that supports schools with teaching materials and awareness activities. 

Young people are actively involved in developing the campaign, for example by contributing to the PAARS magazine and educational resources, fostering peer-to-peer engagement and increasing awareness of LGBTQIA+ issues in teacher training and secondary education.

PAARS also aims to serve as a role model in society by contributing to a culture of tolerance and respect. The campaign highlights that Flanders and Brussels, and Belgium more broadly, place a high value on LGBTQIA+ rights, and that everyone who supports the campaign helps to combat discrimination and hatred.

The need for an awareness campaign such as PAARS remains significant. Data show that LGBTQIA+ people disproportionately experience mental health challenges, bullying and violence. 

Suicidal thoughts are reported by a large proportion of the LGBTQIA+ community, and suicide attempts are significantly higher among trans people, lesbian girls and gay boys than among heterosexual youth. In addition, a segment of young people considers homophobic violence acceptable, and a substantial share of LGBTQIA+ individuals become victims of physical violence. 

Feelings of loneliness, bullying and social exclusion are also widespread.

Against this backdrop, PAARS seeks to contribute to a change in attitudes by making sexual and gender diversity a topic of discussion and supporting schools in creating safe and inclusive environments. 

The campaign positions itself as a structural instrument for awareness, education and solidarity, with the aim that every young person in Flanders and Brussels can be themselves without fear of exclusion or discrimination.