Today we celebrate National Coming Out Day, honoring our LGBTQ+ friends and family who are able to live openly and supporting those who have yet to take that step.
National Coming Out Day stemmed from a single march 37 years ago. Around 500,000 people came to the nation’s capitol to participate in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on October 11, 1987. This marked the second-ever march for LGBTQ+ rights in Washington D.C. Over the course of five days, protestors pushed for the recognition of gay and lesbian couples, the abolition of sodomy laws, funding for AIDS research, and an end to U.S. support of South African apartheid.
The mass demonstration served to draw attention to the U.S. government’s inaction during the AIDS crisis. More than 100,000 people died from AIDS between 1981 and 1990, according to the CDC. The march also served as a response to Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), a Supreme Court case that upheld Georgia’s sodomy law, which outlawed consensual gay sex in a person’s own home.
In 1988, on the march’s one year anniversary, the first National Coming Out Day was organized by gay rights leaders Rob Eichberg and Jean O’Leary. Eichberg, who passed away in 1995 due to AIDS complications, spent years raising funds for AIDS patients and wrote the well-known book “Coming Out: An Act Of Love.” O’Leary, who passed away in 2005 due to lung cancer, is known for founding the Lesbian Feminist Liberation in 1972.
National Coming Out Day has since gained national prominence. In 1993, the NCOD organization merged with the Human Rights Campaign and created the National Coming Out Project in 1996 to provide resources for people on their coming out journey.
To mark the occasion this year, the HRC is teaming up with Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Governor Tim Walz for a virtual rally. The group will also be joined by LGBTQ+ leaders and allies to encourage voter registration.
Happy National Coming Out Day from GO Mag!
