On Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, De Anza College will celebrate National Coming Out Day (NCOD), a day for celebrating individuals who publicly identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian or transgender. This annual holiday is an internationally observed day of civil awareness, promoting the coming out of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity as a cultural rite of passage and commemorating the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Veronica Neal, Director of the De Anza College Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education Department, said, “We’re trying to solidify a voice and a presence for GLBTQQIA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex and Allies) students to create a sense of awareness and inclusion on campus. Honoring national holidays and Pride Month are different pieces that are part of a bigger vision we want to become an integral part of our campus. NCOD is another great opportunity for us to create a space for awareness, education and celebration.”
Julie Lewis, Department Chair of African American Studies and instructor of the Intercultural Studies and Women’s Studies Departments at De Anza, said of the upcoming NCOD event, “It’s important to have these types of events on campus. A lot of the students really need them and the campus in general needs to acknowledge the fact that people within the LGBT community actually exist on this campus throughout our entire structure, from faculty to staff to students as well. It’s going to be a time to celebrate one’s identity and to be excited and proud about who you are and how you identify in the spectrum.”
The NCOD campus event will begin with a student panel and community conversation from 10:30-12:20pm in Conference Room B. “People can show up and talk about whatever aspect of their identity feels right, because that’s an important piece of building empathy and understanding what it was like for folks to come out in an oppressed society,” Neal said, “The idea isn’t to pressure anyone to come out, but this will be a safe space if they wanted to be able to do that.”
After the stories and discussions, the official “Coming Out Day Celebration” will take place in the Multicultural Center from 1:30-3:30pm. The party will include a big cake, music and fun activities, sponsored by DASB, The Pride Events Committee, the Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education and the African American Studies Department. Participants will also have the opportunity to help create two large murals that will be displayed on campus, featuring poetry, art and other forms of self-expression.
“We are really trying to kick off and grow our Pride Events Committee-anyone can get involved,” said Neal, “There are lots of opportunities for us to talk about the struggles and the strife and the oppression in our community, but there aren’t as many opportunities as we need to just get together and celebrate.”
David Byars, Advisor of the Gay-Straight Alliance club and Library Reserves Supervisor and said, “This is a matter of people being people. Everybody knows someone who is gay or lesbian or bisexual and that is a very powerful thing, because it’s no longer “they”, it’s “John down the street” or “Cindy in my office”-and it’s much, much harder for people to take away or keep away rights from people when they know them personally. That’s the main point of coming out-it’s a radical political action and an affirmation of self. It’s just being able to talk to those around you and say, ‘Okay, this might be what society assumes about me, but no, this is actually who I am.'”
NCOD was founded in 1988 by Robert Eichberg, psychologist and founder of the personal growth workshop, “The Experience”, and Jean O’Leary, an openly-gay political leader from Los Angeles and head of the National Gay Rights Advocates.
