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This is international Day of Pink, a day when communities around the world celebrate diversity and raise awareness to stop discrimination and bullying.

Constable Brian Mitchell came out when he was 15 years old and knows what it’s like to be bullied. “When I was growing up, I was a victim of bullying. When I came out in high school there were instances where I had been cornered in stairwells. I would come in and spend as little time as possible at school and then get out. And that was just not wanting to be there not wanting to put up with it and the less time I spent at school the better”

But today he’s back at school, for international Day of Pink, encouraging students to stand up for each other. “Bullying is not acceptable. If you are being bullied by someone you have to come out you need to tell someone.”

“It’s important for us to be role models for young people but even our own organization. We’ve come a long way in the last few years. We have now the first internal support network for our LGBTQ members” says Hamilton Police Chief Glenn De Caire.

The International Day of Pink was started in 2007 at a school in Nova Scotia after two students saw a classmate being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Each year the second Wednesday of April is a day where communities celebrate diversity and raise awareness to stop discrimination and bullying

Last year there were 120 hate crimes reported in Hamilton, but often many of these crimes – especially ones motivated by sexual orientation – go unreported.