The subtle and pervasive discrimination versus gay people, even on a campus that prides itself on diversity and progressiveness like De Anza, continues to surprise me.

I was in class, my second day in a class that seemed like it was going to be very interesting. We were discussing different theories of behavior. While the instructor was lecturing on the Materialist theory, a theory that states that behavior is governed by biology, a student asked the inevitable question, “What about homosexuals?”

Well, it seemed like an inevitable question to me. I had weighed the possibilities of asking the same question. Not because I needed an answer, but because I wanted to know what the instructor’s politics were. I had decided not to ask, because I felt that my motivations weren’t appropriate: the class wouldn’t benefit from breaking up into an impromptu debate. This wasn’t a political science, religious debates or social sciences class. But I was glad somebody else asked.

We all looked to the instructor: the man in front of class, the man with the plan. Someone we, as students, should trust. His answer surprised me.

His discrimination was subtle; I didn’t even notice it at first.

He talked about the biological connection between homosexual behavior and chromosomes. Good start. Then he explained it further. Homosexuality was a “misfiring” of the “normal” behavior of chromosomes.

What? Misfiring? Abnormal? Those are things that evil radio and TV personalities say, not people I know. Not people I’m prepared to respect.

What should I say? Should I say anything at all? Do I whip out my rainbow pin and stick him with it? Plaster pink triangle stickers across my desk?

I chose not to say anything.

But it got me thinking about how we subtly discriminate against each other. It also made me realize that it’s so easy for the gay community and its allies to focus on the larger than life personalities who dominate radio and television.

It’s not just Dr. Laura, people.

But people can be educated. One of the most effective ways to combat this sometimes intentional and sometimes unintentional discrimination at De Anza and elsewhere, is to put a face on the issue.

If you’re gay, you can participate in the upcoming National Coming Out Day. Heck, even if you’re straight, but not narrow-minded, you can still participate.

In two days, on Oct. 11, De Anza’s Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Club will be celebrating National Coming Out Day with a table full of literature in the Main Quad.

Started in 1988 by Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary to celebrate the first anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington, National Coming Out Day is an opportunity for people to come out who feel they are ready to open up to themselves, and to those around them. Even those of us who have been out for years are encouraged to find an opportunity to come out to someone who doesn’t know we’re gay.

Even doing something as small as telling the family pet, or wearing an unobtrusive rainbow sticker can work.

One thing to remember, though: Coming out is a process. One day can’t really encompass the kind of work it takes to really get over the pervasive stereotypes and be oneself.

But like anything that takes work, it can be a fulfilling, enlightening experience.

Maybe I didn’t say anything in class that day, but I’m still lucky. I get to come out to over 2,000 people with these words. And maybe, when people see me in class, they’ll realize that the words they thought affected no one, actually affect us all.

For more information on coming out, you can visit The Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Project home page at http://www.hrc.org/ncop/guide.html