As St. Patrick’s Day nears closer, red-haired individuals and those with Irish roots grow weary of the stigma that comes with being ginger.

According to TRTWorld, “Given the suicides of bullied redhead children, there have been calls from rights groups to identify verbal abuse of red hair as a hate crime.” So, redhead discrimination, AKA “gingerism”, is very real.

“People call me ‘leprechaun.’ Ginger hate is real,” Katheryn Streeter, sophomore, said,

Ada Berg, a freshman, shares similar experiences and advocates for gingers’ humanity and said, “Gingers have souls.”

Gingerism doesn’t only affect students, but also adults and teachers.

“Some students pop their heads into my room and call me ginger,” Joe Patterson, GEHS’s theater teacher, said.

The hate doesn’t stop at true redheads, students like Tayler Jacobberger-Parker who have dyed their hair to appear red, also experience this discrimination.

“I get bullied more. My hair isn’t even that red,” Jacobberger-Parker said.

As a society, it’s important to accept all lifestyles and hairstyles. Coming together to end the epidemic of gingerism would forward GEHS to being more communal and a better experience overall.