Douglass Gavilan/Staff writer
The Multicultural Program and Services hosted an event to promote National Coming out Day and spread awareness.
Both events were done in order to tie in directly with National Coming out Day. The University has a history of supporting the LGBTQA community and will do so at the event by showing support to students who are afraid to speak out.
The event will took place at MMC in the Betty Chapman plaza, outside of the Graham Center, and at BBC in Panther Square, inside the Wolfe University Center.
The event is done to support those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexuals, transgender, queer and others; however, the event won’t be exclusive only to the LGBTQA community as everyone was invited to participate during the event.
“The event will be spread word out to individuals that it is okay to come out.” said Daniel Capote, president of the Stonewall Pride Alliance before the event. “We will be having testimonials from students who have come-out to better help students.”
Multiple LGBTQA organizations participated to teach students how to come out, while non-LGBTQA students will learn about how to confront and accept friends and family who might come or is possibly shy to come out.
“It’s really nice to see the University support an event like this,” said Amy Lacayo, a junior hospitality major. “I know some friends that might be gay and I just want to know how I can be supportive.”
The term “coming out” means that the person is telling others that he or her are either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The hope for the day is that people are able to tell their own loved ones and be accepted.
National Coming out Day was first introduced in 1988 by Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary in order to commemorate the 1987 march in Washington to promote gay and lesbian rights. It wasn’t until 1990 that the holiday spread around the United States. Today, the holiday is well respected and celebrated with more supporters each year.
The day also is meant to better prepare people for the act of coming out. The Human Rights Campaign has published numbers relating to the act of coming out. The data states that while 90 percent of individuals do let close friends know, these numbers decline when it comes to telling parents, which only 55 percent of people have been able to.
When it comes to students coming out at school, only 61 percent of students come out to schools. Of these, 30 percent are afraid to because they do not want to be treated differently by peers or teachers.
The event took place yesterday to greater expand the LGBTQ community. Multiple organizations including the Gay Straight alliance and the Stonewall community were present.
For any student who is interested in future events or cannot attend the event, the LGBTQA community can be reached at the Multicultural Program and Services department located at GC 216 at Modesto Maidique Campus (305-348-2436)or at WUC 253 at the Biscayne Bay Campus (305-919-5817).
Image by Ben, retrieved from Flickr:
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