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National Coming Out Day is October 11, established to honor LGBTQ people stepping fully into their true selves to others –— also known as coming out of the closet. It’s a day for honoring the act, and all the related hopes, fears, dreams and expectations for the future.
The designation started in 1988 on the first anniversary of the second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in October 1987. (The first march was in 1979.)
“National Coming Out Day exists to promote a safe, inclusive and loving world where LGBTQ+ people can live truthfully, openly and without fear,” said Joni Madison, interim president of the Human Rights Campaign. “Coming out isn’t something you do once — it’s a decision that we make every single day of our lives. Whether it’s for the first time ever or the first time today, coming out can be a challenging journey, but it’s also a brave decision to live authentically.”
Much has changed since that historic political rally during the height of the AIDS crisis. In the decades since, anti-discrimination laws were enacted, same-sex marriage became law of the land and HIV/AIDS went from a stigmatized death sentence to being manageable — and even medically preventable.
Nearly everyone knows someone who is LGBTQ, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center study, and the number of people who identify as LGBTQ has ticked ever upward, now at more than 7% of the US population, according to a 2022 Gallup poll. Indeed, some people don’t ever consider a closet something they need to step out of. More LGBTQ people are free to be themselves from a young age, with affirmative families and communities and laws that protect and empower.
Still, that proverbial closet remains. It’s huge, in fact. More than 4 out of 5 LGBTQ people keep their true identities hidden from all or most people, according to a 2018 Yale School of Medicine study.
Rates of violence against LGBTQ people have climbed higher in recent years, according to FBI statistics. And there has been an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation. Following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June, activists expressed concern that same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ rights could be next on conservative justices’ agenda. LGBTQ people continue to face discrimination in every…
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