Why Do We Still Need National Coming Out Day?

Happy National Coming Out Day! At Laurel Therapy Collective, we have a passion for healing and uplifting the LGBT+ community. Every year on October 11, we celebrate National Coming Out Day. But why do we need a day for coming out?

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National Coming Out Day is an important day for the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate coming out and to show support for those who are still in the closet. It helps to create a sense of community and belonging. This day is meant to be a celebration of identity pride, as well as an opportunity for agency in a culture where the threat of being outed sometimes has devastating consequences. Even those who choose to come out sometimes face major interruptions and losses in their personal lives and careers.
 
This holiday is celebrated on the anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. At the time, the community was in the throes of the AIDS crisis. Harvey Milk, the first prominent gay politician, had been murdered nine years prior. It was a very different time for LGBT people than we are in now, when many celebrities and public figures are openly queer and trans and are celebrated for it. Still, we have a long ways to go.
 
At Laurel Therapy Collective, we think it’s important to remind everyone of the following:
 

• You don’t have to come out to anyone to be queer. Sometimes it’s coming out to yourself that matters.
• Coming out isn’t something you do just once. You do it over and over again in different ways, with different people, for different reasons.
• It’s okay to be out in some parts of your life and not others. You’re still queer and still valid.
• It’s never too early or too late to come out. Just look at Maybelle Blair, player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (think A League of Their Own), who came out this year at age 95.

 
Coming out is an ongoing process that can be difficult and scary, but also liberating and empowering. It is a way to claim our power and identity, to live truthfully and authentically, and to show others that they are not alone. On National Coming Out Day, we celebrate the courage it takes to come out, and recommit to creating a world where everyone can live openly and authentically. Hopefully, one day this holiday will no longer be necessary.

If you’re just coming out and navigating the process, shifting relationships, and changing identity, we’d love to support you.

Photo by Anna Shvets