In celebration of National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, the members of the Queer Student Center (QSC) will be wearing informative white t-shirts with red writing that reads “I am coming out as __________” with the blank space filled in to represent the individual. Co-coordinator of the QSC, Cheyenne Fox Tree-McCorath considers it an opportunity to create a worldwide safe space to honor those who have already come out while allying with those still “in the closet.”
National Coming Out Day first began back in 1987 when a half-million people of the LGBT community and their allies held a march on Washington, D.C. Since then, it has been held on October 11 and celebrated in many different ways. Social groups hold parties, organizations hold marches, and schools hold assemblies.
In relation to the UMass Boston event, Fox Tree-McCorath said, “We want to make people comfortable with coming out on campus. We want them to know that it’s okay and that there is a place you can go where there are supportive, like-minded people. Often the administration will stick up for you but having your peers on your side matters a great deal.”
Fox Tree-McCorath places special emphasis on the day being about sexual identity equality and that it will continue to be a prominent day until that equality has been reached. “It’s about reclaiming your identity.”
Daniel Pilling, English Major and member of the QSC, fondly called “The Q” by its members, gave a slightly different definition. “While I still appreciate Coming Out Day because it gives opportunities, I hate the term ‘coming out,'” says Pilling, a gay male. “I hope that we come to a point where we don’t have to [come out]. Nobody says ‘I’m coming out as straight,’ or ‘I’m coming out as black.’ We should just be able to ‘be’, we should not have to let it define us.”
Pilling explained that having a day that allows for open inquiry would help to get rid of people’s fear of the unknown. “In this society being straight is perceived as assured but that should no longer be the conception.”
Stationed right next to the Veteran’s Center, The Q intermingles daily with every other center and has no qualms about anyone who may choose to lounge upon its couches. “Having a queer ally friend is no different from having any other kind of straight or queer friend,” says Pilling. “They don’t receive any kind of different treatment.”
Fox Tree-McCorath closes with, “Not only are we fighting for acceptance and understanding but we also want to get people, queer, straight or otherwise, comfortable with being able to visit The Q and have no fear of feeling different.”
National Coming Out Day
October 4, 2011
