Sunday October 11th is National Coming out day as the LGBTQ+ community celebrates all individuals who come out as gay, bisexual, lesbian, and trans-gender.
Many celebrities went on social media to show their support for the community.
Many LGBTQ+ organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign, released videos over the sensitive subject, but also highlighting it as an act of bravery.
Many YouTube stars tend to make coming out videos to their subscribers to invite them in their personal life. So, they were also on the social media scene for this special day.
“Coming out” or “coming out of the closet” is a metaphor expression that explains when someone reveals their homosexuality.
Hence, being in the closet means you are in “hiding” from the real world and coming out of it implies you are done hiding and ready for what the world has in store for you.
Here at Augustana we had the members of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance host a table at the Brew and gave away candy in support of the day as well.
The day in itself celebrates a very important act that many members of the LGBTQ+ community remember in explicit detail.
Unfortunately, not all coming out stories have the positive result that most people hope for.
Being an LGBT student with many gay and lesbian friens, coming out is not an easy process that many wish did not exist. Yet, considering the society and world we live in, it is important for others to know your true self, but also to realize that your sexuality does not define you entirely as it is only a small part of who you are.
Not everyone’s families and friends are going to hug and be happy for their LGBT son or daughter.
Some cry, isolate themselves, or even isolate their own child and tell them to go pack their bags.
On a more serious note, some men or women who do hope to come out to their loved ones don’t even make it out alive.
This could either be due to bullying, self harm, or even hate crimes that sets this concrete wall between their true self and what others perceive them to be.
This is exactly why it is essential to have a National Coming Out day to serve as reminder that a very large group of accepting and unbiased individuals exist in the world.
Hopefully, in the future, being a member of the LGBT community gets to such a level of norm that coming out or having to set yourself aside from being an assumed heterosexual does not exist.
With same sex marriage being legalized in all 50 states and as the public opinion of the LGBT community is progressively more positive , we actually might get there.