Valerie Horvatic was not aware that her son decided to wear a pink shirt saying “Tough Guys Wear Pink” to school one day last month.
She also didn’t know the shirt caused her son, Julian, 7, to be bullied that day at Acmetonia Primary School in Allegheny Valley School District. The Cheswick resident found out a few weeks later when she asked him to put on the shirt for a friend’s birthday party. She wanted him wearing a bright color so she could spot him easily.
When she handed Julian the shirt, he threw it on the ground, calling it “stupid.”
“I do not want to wear that shirt. Kids made fun of me in that shirt,” he said.
The reaction surprised Horvatic. Julian, who is on the autism spectrum, generally communicates well but is not always clear or understandable, she said. This time, his forceful reaction indicated how upset he was about the situation.
“For him to just be that upset over something,” Horvatic said, “it made me feel horrible.”
To release the flood of emotions she was experiencing, Horvatic went to her Facebook to post a video about her son’s experience. She was careful to not point fingers, but spoke on the importance of teaching kids everyone is different and unique.
Her post evoked a flood of support from community members, who gathered to create a #teampink movement. With the help of her friends Devon McClafferty, Trista Tivo and Jennifer Walch, pink shirts were made to show support for Julian. One shirt said “Kind Is the New Cool #teampink” and another shirt said, “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully #teampink.”
The shirts were originally given for free to friends and neighbors until more people asked for the shirts. All proceeds were used to buy more shirts and material for the Cricutmachine, which is used to make designs for a T-shirt. The group gave out 87 shirts.
“It was amazing to see the school being flooded with pink shirts from the kids, teachers, adults and parents just dropping kids off. It was amazing,” Tivo said.
Tivo said she is still receiving requests about buying a shirt from people in the Allegheny Valley School District and other surrounding school districts.
Oct. 8 was designated as “Pink Day,” where people were encouraged to wear pink shirts in solidarity with Julian. Horvatic posted a video of him reacting to the community’s support followed by a photo collage of people young and old wearing pink shirts for the day.
“Julian was all smiles. I think he doesn’t quite understand the extent” of the reaction, she said. But when he saw everyone in the shirts, “he was like, ‘Hundreds of pink shirts, hundreds of pink shirts.’ ”
Horvatic said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support her son and the shirts received. She is not fulfilling shirt orders for the the time being, but she and McClafferty are thinking of creating a shirt with a new logo related to Julian.
“This community came together, and it was overwhelming. We couldn’t believe it,” she said.