Monday marked National Coming Out Day, a globally recognized civil awareness day in order to promote coming out and foster discussion about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues. The day was recognized many places throughout the world, with activities ranging from rallies and speeches to in-school informational videos and education. This year the day is celebrated in conjunction with the campaign “End Bullying Everywhere.”
The reason for the duality of the two events is due to the recent increase in suicides in the gay community. Two weeks ago, Rutgers University made headlines when a male student committed suicide after he was allegedly recorded engaging in sexual activities with another male. The tragedy has prompted international response and many of the rallies around the country focused on preventing future suicides by gay youth.
Caleb Eigsti, an advocate for The New Civil Rights Campaign, wrote in September how this National Coming Out Day should be focused on LGBT youth. He said in his editorial on the Web site TheNewCivilRightsMovement.org, “This year it hit me ó the connection finally hit me ó LGBT youth are three times as likely to attempt suicide. LGBT youth need role models. LGBT youth need hope.” Sadly, this post came only a few hours before Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers freshman, jumped to his death.
National Coming Out Day was created by Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary in 1988, building on the momentum of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Participants in National Coming Out Day are encouraged to wear pride symbols such as the pink triangle or the rainbow colored flag in order to show support for the different sexual orientations of the LGBT. In the United States, NCOD is directed by the Human Rights Campaign, which encourages individuals, families and allies to spread their stories.
On Monday, many different organizations and institutions celebrated National Coming Out Day. At Syracuse University, the LGBT Resource center has chosen to spread the message “You are not alone” in order to let students and other youth know that there are people they can go to when it comes to discussing their sexual orientation. This message will also be echoed throughout other institutions and organizations around the country.
Here in Wooster, the second annual “Open the Door to Equality” rally was held downtown on Sunday. The rally included two keynote speakers in order to spread the message of equal rights for the LGBT community. Many people in the community turned up to show their support for the local gay community and gave citizens the chance to tell the government that they deserve equal rights. The keynote speakers included Nikie Antonio, who was recently elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, becoming the first openly gay, bisexual and transgender legislator in the state, reported the Daily Record. Other speakers addressed similar issues, enlisting the help of the some-100 people who attended the rally.
The College of Wooster also played a role in the Open the Door to Equality rally. President of the College’s Allies and Queers association, George Myatt ’11, gave a speech at the event. Myatt said that having the opporunity to speak at the event allowed him to “highlight the on-going issue of kids who are gay not being able to stand up and speak out for themselves.” Myatt wanted to make sure that in that moment their voices could be heard.† Myatt wanted to let people out there struggling with coming out of the closet to take their time and not feel pressured. He said, “don’t let anyone else try to define you by your identity. You are in charge of it.”