National Coming Out Day

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National Coming Out Day
Logo ncod lg.png
Logo designed by Keith Haring for the Human Rights Campaign's advocacy of the day
Observed by LGBT community
Type LGBT awareness day
Observances Coming out
Date October 11
Next timeOctober 11, 2024 (2024-10-11)
FrequencyAnnual
First timeOctober 11, 1988 (United States)
Related to Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights

National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11 to support anyone "coming out of the closet". [1] First celebrated in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation spirit of the personal being political, and the emphasis on the most basic form of activism being coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person. [2] The founders believed that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance and that once people know that they have loved ones who are lesbian or gay, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views. [3]

Contents

History

NCOD was inaugurated in 1988 by Robert Eichberg and Jean O'Leary. Eichberg, who died in 1995 of complications from AIDS, was a psychologist from New Mexico and the founder of the personal growth workshop "The Experience". [4] O'Leary was an openly lesbian political leader and long-time activist from New York and was at the time the head of the National Gay Rights Advocates in Los Angeles. [3] LGBT activists, including Eichberg and O'Leary, did not want to respond defensively to anti-LGBT action because they believed it would be predictable. This led them to establish NCOD to maintain positivity and celebrate coming out. [1] The date of October 11 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987. [1]

Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact, everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes.

– Robert Eichberg, in 1993 [3]

Initially administered from the West Hollywood offices of the National Gay Rights Advocates, the first NCOD received participation from eighteen states, garnering national media coverage. In its second year, NCOD headquarters moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and participation grew to 21 states. After a media push in 1990, NCOD was observed in all 50 states and seven other countries. Participation continued to grow, and in 1990, NCOD merged its efforts with the Human Rights Campaign. [1]

Observance

National Coming Out Day is observed annually to celebrate coming out and to raise awareness of the LGBT community and civil rights movement. The first decades of observances were marked by private and public people coming out, often in the media, to raise awareness and let the mainstream know that everyone knows at least one person who is lesbian or gay. [1] The day has been more of a holiday in recent years because coming out as LGBT is far less risky in most Western countries. Participants often wear pride symbols such as pink triangles and rainbow flags.[ citation needed ]

National Coming Out Day is also observed in Ireland, [5] Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, [6] and Portugal. [7] In the United States, the Human Rights Campaign sponsors NCOD events under the auspices of their National Coming Out Project, offering resources to LGBT individuals, couples, parents, and children, as well as straight friends and relatives, to promote awareness of LGBT families living honest and open lives. Candace Gingrich became the spokesperson for NCOD in April 1995. [1] From 1999 to 2014, the Human Rights Campaign announced a theme to go with each NCOD: [1]

Perspectives on "coming out"

Radical feminist poet and author Adrienne Rich, in her 1980 essay "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence", suggests that the need to come out stems from the pressure to adhere to heterosexuality from birth, or compulsory heterosexuality. [8] Rich uses the example that heterosexual people never have to come out as heterosexual, and that societal support of heterosexuality as the norm leads to homosexuality being viewed as an anomaly. She explores how the oppressive, ubiquitous nature of compulsory heterosexuality has historically resulted in many lesbians never realizing their true nature or not discovering their orientation until later in life. [8]

NCOD has traditionally been a celebratory day for the LGBT community. However, Preston Mitchum, a black queer writer, in his article, "On National Coming Out Day, Don't Disparage the Closet", published in The Atlantic in 2013, questions the assumptions that he believes NCOD makes. While Mitchum does not discredit those who have come out and praises them for their bravery, he also points out that coming out may not always be safe for LGBT people in multiple marginalized communities. [9] Mitchum also suggests that coming out can lead to hypervisibility for those with intersecting identities, potentially leading to discrimination in the workplace, family exile, violence, and criminalization. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to combat homophobia and heterosexism by revealing that a prominent or respected individual is homosexual. Historical examples of outing include the Krupp affair, Eulenburg affair, and Röhm scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coming out</span> Process of revealing ones sexual orientation or other attributes

Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or gender identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT community</span> Community and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

The LGBT community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biphobia</span> Aversion to bisexual people

Biphobia is aversion toward bisexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being bisexual. Similarly to homophobia, it refers to hatred and prejudice specifically against those identified or perceived as being in the bisexual community. It can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative stereotypes about people who are bisexual. Other forms of biphobia include bisexual erasure.

Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexual relationships are the only norm and therefore superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OutRage!</span> British advocacy group for LGBT+ rights

OutRage! was a British political group focused on lesbian and gay rights. Founded in 1990, the organisation ran for 21 years until 2011. It described itself as "a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action and civil disobedience" and was formed to advocate that lesbian, gay and bisexual people have the same rights as heterosexual people, to end homophobia and to affirm the right of queer people to their "sexual freedom, choice and self-determination".

Lavender Menace was an informal group of lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and their issues from the feminist movement at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970. Members included Karla Jay, Martha Shelley, Rita Mae Brown, Lois Hart, Barbara Love, Ellen Shumsky, Artemis March, Cynthia Funk, Linda Rhodes, Arlene Kushner, Ellen Broidy, and Michela Griffo, and were mostly members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the National Organization for Women (NOW). They later became the Radicalesbians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean O'Leary</span> American lesbian and gay rights activist

Jean O'Leary was an American lesbian and gay rights activist. She was the founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, one of the first lesbian activist groups in the women's movement, and an early member and co-director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She co-founded National Coming Out Day.

Gay Blue Jeans Day, alternatively National Gay Blue Jeans Day or just Gay Jeans Day is a celebration frequently advertised on college campuses in the United States in coordination with World AIDS Day, Gay Equality Day, Gay Pride Week, or National Coming Out Day. Students are encouraged to wear jeans on a particular day to communicate their support of gay rights.

The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) is observed on May 17 and aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide. By 2016 the commemorations had taken place in over 130 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homophobia</span> Negative attitudes and discrimination toward homosexuality and LGBT people

Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and may sometimes be attributed to religious beliefs.

Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.

The Cass identity model is one of the fundamental theories of LGBT identity development, developed in 1979 by Vivienne Cass. This model was one of the first to treat LGBT people as normal in a heterosexist society and in a climate of homophobia and biphobia instead of treating homosexuality and bisexuality themselves as a problem. Cass described a process of six stages of LGBT identity development. While these stages are sequential, some people might revisit stages at different points in their lives.

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Closeted and in the closet are metaphors for LGBT people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometimes combined with coming out, the act of revealing one's sexuality or gender to others, to create the phrase "coming out of the closet".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discrimination against gay men</span> Prejudice, hatred, or bias toward gay men, male homosexuality, or men perceived to be gay

Discrimination against gay men, sometimes called gayphobia, is a form of homophobic prejudice, hatred, or bias specifically directed toward gay men, male homosexuality, or men who are perceived to be gay. This discrimination is closely related to femmephobia, which is the dislike of, or hostility toward, individuals who present as feminine, including gay and effeminate men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of LGBT topics</span> Overview of and topical guide to LGBT topics

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Homophobia in ethnic minority communities is any negative prejudice or form of discrimination in ethnic minority communities in the UK and USA towards people who identify as–or are perceived as being–lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), known as homophobia. This may be expressed as antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, irrational fear, and is sometimes related to religious beliefs. A 2006 study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the UK found that while religion can have a positive function in many LGB Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, it can also play a role in supporting homophobia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of Coming Out & Themes of NCOD". Human Rights Campaign. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  2. ↑ Hoffman, Amy (2007) An Army of Ex-Lovers: My life at the Gay Community News. University of Massachusetts Press. pp.xi-xiii. ISBN   978-1558496217
  3. 1 2 3 "Robert Eichberg, 50, Gay Rights Leader". The New York Times. August 15, 1995.
  4. ↑ Archives, L. A. Times (August 19, 1995). "Robert Eichberg; Psychologist, Gay Rights Activist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  5. ↑ O'Carroll, Sinead (October 11, 2013). "Today is 'National Coming Out Day'". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  6. ↑ Connor, Liz (October 11, 2017). "National Coming Out Day: Advice for parents of LGBTQ teens". London Evening Standard . Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  7. ↑ Silva, Raquel Dias da (October 10, 2019). "Lisboa celebra o Dia de Sair do Armário com sessão especial de "Variações"". Time Out Lisboa (in European Portuguese). Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  8. 1 2 Rich, Adrienne (1980). "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (PDF). Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 5 (4): 631–660. doi:10.1086/493756. S2CID   143604951. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2020.
  9. 1 2 Mitchum, Preston (October 11, 2013). "On National Coming Out Day, Don't Disparage the Closet". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
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