October 11th National Coming Out Day
National Coming Out Day, Learn It’s History Because Together We Are POWERFUL October 11th.
Happy National Coming Out Day!
The goal of the day is for Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Queer people and their allies to celebrate coming out and encourage those who haven’t to make their voices heard
National Coming Out Day was founded in 1988 by Robert Eichberg, a psychologist from New Mexico and founder of the personal growth workshop, The Experience, and Jean O’Leary, an openly-gay political leader from Los Angeles and then head of the National Gay Rights Advocates. October 11th. was chosen because it was the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights where over half a million LGBTQ’s and our straight allies participated in. It was the second such demonstration in our nation’s capital and resulted in the founding of a number of LGBTQ organizations.
Every gay person must come out, As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends. You must tell your neighbors. You must tell the people you work with. You must tell the people in the stores you shop in. And once they realize that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and for all. And once you do, you will feel so much better.”
– Harvey Milk
NCOD’s first headquarters was located in the West Hollywood, California offices of the National Gay Rights Advocates. 18 states participated in the first NCOD, which was covered in the national media. In its second year, the headquarters moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and participation grew to 21 states. After a media push in 1990, NCOD’s was observed in all 50 states and seven other countries.
National Coming Out Day (NCOD’s) is an annual LGBTQ awareness day observed on October 11. Founded 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. The foundation belief is 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.