The International Coming Out Day can be an excellent occasion to remind ourselves of how liberating finding your identity be. But where does this amazing world day come from?
Inspired by a protest
We celebrate Coming Out Day every year on the 11th of October – for good reason. This is the anniversary of the 1987 Washington gay rights protest in which more than 500 000 people participated. You cannot achieve change from the sofa, that’s for sure.
The brain child of a psychologist and an activist
The idea came from the psychologist Robert Eichberg and the activist Jean O’Leary in 1988. The message was simple, but powerful: if everyone knows someone from the LGBTQ+ community, then it will be more difficult for them to be hateful. It might sound a bit idealistic, but breaking down taboos can be very encouraging.
It is not only celebrated in the USA
Coming Out day is now known in more than 30 countries – including Germany, Switzerland and South-Africa. Multiple civil organizations started a series of events tied to this day in Hungary as well.
“Coming out” didn’t even have this meaning originally
The origins of this expression come from the social life of the 20th century – when young women “come out into society”. The LGBTQ+ community found a new meaning to this symbolic step into society.
The closet isn’t a coincidence either
“Coming out of the closet” – the closet is a metaphor for taboos, keeping secrets and invisibility. And coming out of this closet is the symbol of finding your identity, honesty and courage.
A day, which for many is a whole life
Coming out is not a single moment, but a process – many people come out again and again in different settings and communities: to their family, to their workplace and to their friends. This is why Coming Out day should also be about support and not only courage.
President Obama also celebrated
The first Coming Out day event in the White House was held under the presidency of Barack Obama. Since then, several American politicians and institutes openly support the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community – although this tendency has stopped since the beginning of the year. But let’s hope for the best when it comes to our community.
Coming out at NASA
Sally Ride was the first American woman who went to space and it was she who inspired the first public coming out story of space research: Wendy Lawrence came out in 2018 at a celebration. Naturally there were other LGBTQ+ researchers and scientists beside her at NASA, several of them shared their story on the occasion of Coming Out day: diversity has a place here as well. Rainbows shine even in space!
Pop culture won’t be left out either
Ellen DeGeneres, Chapell Roan or Kristen Stewart – all of them have had an important role in raising awareness in the last couple decades. Through their example other queers can be inspired positively and, by the way, straight people can find their way more easily to the community as well.
As a bonus here are a few videos from the 2010s from important Hungarian organizations (in Hungarian):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiOh9TLi0Y – Az Előbújás Napja 2013 – International Coming Out Day #ezvagyokén
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnC9U6XkJ7I – Az Előbújás Napja 2012 – International Coming Out Day #ezvagyokén
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU-nuJ6FAH8 – Előbújás történetek – Coming out #ezvagyokén
