Miami City Ballet dancers go purple for Spirit Day, speaking out for LGBT youth and against bullying

Posted Friday to Facebook:

Miami City Ballet goes purple for Spirit Day!!!!

From GLAAD:

Spirit Day is annual day in October when millions of Americans wear purple to speak out against bullying and to show their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth.

Gallery | Miami City Ballet 2012-13 Program I: 'Apollo,' 'Les Patineurs' and 'Piazzolla Caldera'

Miami City Ballet has opened its 27th season with performances in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Here are details from the Ballet, along with photos from Thursday night's dress rehearsal:

Program 1 opens the 12-13 Season with works by leading choreographers of the 20th century. Returning to the repertory after long absences are George Balanchine’s APOLLO, from 1928 with its ravishing Stravinsky score, and Sir Frederick Ashton’s LES PATINEURS - also called THE SKATING PARTY -- with all the charm and nostalgia it’s been celebrated for since it was first seen in 1937. And, in a very different mood, Paul Taylor’s tango-flavored spectacular PIAZZOLLA CALDERA closes the exciting program, with its seductive choreography and thrilling Piazzolla music.

Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.

Boxer Orlando Cruz wins first fight since announcing he's gay

ASSOCIATED PRESS

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- These last two weeks have weighed heavily on Orlando Cruz.

But as soon as he walked out to a cheering crowd displaying flags of his native Puerto Rico, boxing's first openly gay fighter could finally breathe and do what he came to do, slugging his way to a victory by unanimous decision over Jorge Pazos.

"That was my moment, my opportunity, my event," Cruz said Friday night after the bout, his mother Dominga Torres-Rivera seated beside him. "And I won."

Cruz was touched by the support on display at the Kissimmee Civic Center outside of Orlando, the latest in a continual outpouring since his announcement two weeks ago that made him the first active male athlete in a major sport to come out.

"I was very happy that they respect me. That's what I want - them to see me as a boxer, as an athlete and as a man in every sense of the word."

Click here to read more.