October 11 is Coming Out Day! We celebrate the LGBTQIA community, and we celebrate our support of the LGBTQIA community! National Coming Out Day is celebrated every year on October 11 throughout the United States and other countries around the world. Coming Out Day day is meant to celebrate the act of “coming out” – when an LGBTQIA person decides to publicly share their gender identities or sexual orientation. The day is not only to celebrate those who've already come out, but to support those who choose to keep their identity a secret, or perhaps encourage someone to come out who's been thinking about it.
Coming Out Day was founded in 1988 by Richard Eichberg, a psychologist and Jean O'Leary, a gay rights activist, to raise awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and its civil rights movement. October 11th was chosen as the date to celebrate Coming Out Day to mark the anniversary of the second major National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights ( the march took place in 1987).
We celebrate all who have come out as LGBTQIA, we support those who choose to keep their identity a secret, we commend the bravery it takes to Come Out, and we stand in support and solidarity with you! Happy Coming Out Day!
References: Here are a few resources to learn more about National Coming Out Day:
- https://www.hrc.org/resources/national-coming-out-day
- https://people.com/human-interest/national-coming-out-day-everything-you-need-to-know/
- https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/coming-out-day
- https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/orientation
- https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/reducing-sexual-prejudice
Resources:
Tips for Authentically Owning Your Coming Out Experience
Rodney A. Valandra, MA, LPCC, LMHC, NCC
Director of Student Counseling Services
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
The Journey
Rodney A. Valandra, MA, LPCC, LMHC, NCC
Director of Student Counseling Services
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Pride Alliance, the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program was proud to announce the 12th annual event in support of our diverse campus community and National Coming Out Day. This is a day in which we celebrate people coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, gender-queer, gender-fluid, or gender-non-conforming. Additionally, it is a day in which we celebrate people coming out as supportive allies of the LGBTQ community. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come support this event!
On Wednesday, October 19th, in the Wick Chapel we held our Coming Out for Equality Convocation featuring addresses by members of our campus community, the moving speeches, sharing of brave coming out stories of people before us was followed by a march to the panther statue in consolidation of those who weren't to be who they were and as a promise that we will not stop fighting for our rights.