Sunday, October 11, 2009

LGBT History Month: National Coming Out Day


We all have our times that we choose to "come out;" to tell our friends and family, so-workers and bosses that we're gay. We all have the right to do it in our own time and in our own way.

But, to make things a bit easier, and maybe to make you feel a little less alone, we have National Coming Out Day.

And it's today!

National Coming Out Day is an internationally-observed civil awareness day for coming out and openly discussing LGBT issues.

The founders of National Coming Out Day, Rob Eichberg, Ph.D. and Jean O'Leary, believe that we should all use this day to begin living our lives openly and powerfully; to be who we are; to show the world we matter, that we count.

Eichberg and O'Leary, acting on behalf of their organizations, The Experience and National Gay Rights Advocates, founded the day in 1988 to celebrate the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights which had occurred the year before; over half-a-million gays and lesbians had marched that day for equality, something we are still fighting for some twenty years later.

And we could use everyone's help. If you're gay, and good for you, by the way, and still in the closet, why not open that door a smidge and let some light in. Tell one friend; tell someone in your family; tell a co-worker. Tell someone. It really will be okay.

I won't lie to you and say everyone will celebrate your newfound openness with cheers and parades, though wouldn't that be nice, but you will find that most people already knew, or suspected; you will find that most people love you anyway.

You will find that it's okay.
Hell, it's downright fabulous.

National Coming Out Day.
Tell a friend.

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