Coming out day

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The National Coming Out Day ( COD ) or coming-out day is on since 1988 on October 11 committed each year. Various goals relating to the topic of coming out are being pursued.

Motivations

Gays , lesbians , bisexuals , transgender people, etc. ( LGBT ), provided they are personally ready to do so, are called upon to show themselves publicly, i.e. to take the visible step of the coming-out process for the first time or again . This is one of the best and often effective remedies for homophobia and transphobia . Various studies show that people who know LGBTs personally are more positive about these groups. The people with the greatest fears and uneasiness are mostly those who do not know people of this type personally, and sometimes do not want to get to know them. The more different people know LGBTs, the easier it is for them to throw existing prejudices overboard.

Those who are still in the coming-out process should be encouraged to take this step and stand by themselves, to accept themselves as they are, and thereby gain strength. Often those affected feel or pay close attention to comments about LGBT; most reveal themselves for the first time to a close friend or one of their siblings. Today the first steps are sometimes taken on the Internet. Coming-out is generally experienced as a liberation because there is no need to hide and you can share experiences and wishes with others. When it comes to campaigns for the Coming Out Day, specific attention is drawn to leisure and advisory services for young people.

The third essential point is to bring this issue closer to the heteronormative population and to educate them about why it can be difficult to come out and live openly and how outsiders can support this process. In contrast to Christopher Street Day and parades like Gay Pride , many smaller actions are organized by local associations on this day. Often it is youth groups or school or university initiatives in which heterosexual allies also participate.

Originated in the USA

National Coming Out Day logo by Keith Haring

On October 11, 1987, about 500,000 people participated in the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights . Four months later, more than 100 activists met in Manassas , Virginia . It was recognized that people in the LGBT community still often react very defensively to anti-homosexual actions. So the idea came up to organize a national day of action to celebrate the coming-out and chose the anniversary of the March on Washington as the date . The originators of this idea were Robert Eichberg († 1995), a founder of The Experience , a program to increase self-esteem, and Jean O'Leary, director of the National Gay Rights Advocates (NGRA) since 1981 .

O'Leary expanded the NGRA West Hollywood office to create the first National Coming Out Day (NCOD) headquarters . Activist Sean Strub got Keith Haring to donate an image that became the initiative's logo. It shows a person dancing out of a closet. The first NCOD on October 11, 1988 was celebrated in 18 states and achieved national media attention with The Oprah Winfrey Show , CNN , USA Today and National Public Radio , among others . Thousands of gay and lesbian Americans had their names published in newspapers.

In the following year, the headquarters was set up under the direction of Eichberg in Santa Fe (New Mexico) . Actions were carried out in 21 states. In 1990 the organization received the tax exemption. With the aim of making the Haring picture a universal symbol, it was asked to place it in vacancies in the gay and lesbian press. It then appeared in 150 publications. The activities spread to all 50 states and seven other countries. Geraldo Rivera designed a television program in 1991 with Dick Sargent , Sheila Kuehl and Robert Eichberg , all of whom were openly gay .

In 1993 the NCOD merged with what was then the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF, later Human Rights Campaign (HRC)). Lynn Shepodd, who has been with the company from the very beginning and has been managing director since 1990, made this merger to give the project more momentum. Tim McFeeley, then managing director of the HRCF, saw the initiative as a valuable addition to his movement. Wes Combs, the HRCF-appointed project director, began to involve celebrities more fully in the program. Actress Amanda Bearse agreed to become president of National Coming Out Day in 1994. At the time, she was the only nationwide known openly lesbian actress.

She appeared in a commercial for public institutions with the message: “I'm not a straight woman, but I play one on TV. And that's where acting belongs - on television or in the cinema. Not into real life. That's why I stopped acting and outed myself. ”Under Managing Director Elizabeth Birch , the NCOD grew into a year-round National Coming Out Project that promotes sincerity and openness, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender on campus, at work or at home to be. The activities spread over the year culminate at the NCOD.

In 1995, Candace Gingrich visited 52 cities within six months. The half-sister of Newt Gingrich , then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives , came with the message, "Your brother doesn't have to be a House Speaker to have your voice heard." Dan Butler said on TV spots and newspaper ads, "I'm not straight man, but I play one on TV. "the singer Melissa Etheridge reminded people in 100 radio stations played radio spots because record label / labels include on records, not on people.

In the election year 1996 the project profile was expanded. Now it was said: “You have the power. Register yourself. Choose. ”From September 1997, Betty DeGeneres, mother of Ellen DeGeneres , became the first straight female speaker. In HRC Quarterly she said: "The fact that I am a mother, which campaigns for equal rights for her daughter and her partner, emphasized the point that ending discrimination based on sexual orientation not only for gay and lesbian people important is, it's important for their families and the people they love. "

The main event took place in Los Angeles in cooperation with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation . In 2002 the theme was "Being Out Rocks!" A CD was released on NCOD with open-minded LGBT musicians and straight allies contributing songs, including Cyndi Lauper , Queen , kd lang and Sarah McLachlan . Melissa Etheridge said, "I hope efforts like these teenagers make it clear that they can be themselves without fear that their sexual orientation will be an obstacle to their success."

She was also featured on a poster with 18 other open-ended GLBT artists, including Ani DiFranco , Michael Stipe , Indigo Girls , RuPaul and Rufus Wainwright . The text of the poster read: "You may feel like you are just a face in the crowd, but coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender makes you a star!" There were also campaigns for elections in 2002, 2004 and 2008. In 2008 a video contest was held on Youtube. The winner Tyler Oakley, a student at Michigan State University , received a trip to Washington, DC , where he 2009 Visiting in January XM Satellite Radio telecast The Agenda with Joe Solmonese was.

Suggestions for shaping the day

In addition to personally coming out to family, friends or work colleagues, the HRC suggests other activities for this day: You can attend lectures or discussion events on various LGBT topics, cultural or film festivals, who tell their coming-out story or organize a photo exhibition, run information tables, show support through clothing (specific group-matched clothing, T-shirts with slogans or symbols), hold a "Solidarity Sunday" in the parish, write slogans or poems with chalk on the sidewalks, organize a party or yourself Outing democratically elected representatives. In the USA, October is also known as "Gay and Lesbian History Month", which can be taken into account when planning project ideas.

One can publish an advertisement with an "Out List" in a local newspaper or in the school or student newspaper, where, with consent, names of open-minded students, employees or the like and heterosexual supporters are published, such as at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1994.

The PRIDE group at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington is holding an event called "Horn for Diversity." There are such horn votes on various occasions in the USA. You stand with signs at a busy intersection and the passers-by show their support by honking briefly. You can construct a closet door and invite people to walk through, literally "to come out of the closet". Donations can be collected by selling pictures. You can also show visibility and at the same time support for others by eating under the motto “We're here, we're queer and we care about others” (“We are here, we are queer and take care of others.”) drives out, helps those in need or organizes a rubbish collection campaign.

German-speaking area

In Switzerland there are days coming-out in 1991 Actions for. Pink Cross and the lesbian organization Switzerland took over the coordination .

In Liechtenstein , the time around the coming-out day is the time when most actions have taken place since 1997. The FLay association is the coordinator . Depending on the year, there is an information stand, film screenings, cabaret and a "coming-out party".

Various initiatives run small projects in Germany. The Coming Out Day e. V. would like to draw attention to the situation of gay and lesbian young people and also establish the day of action in Germany. The club name refers to both the day itself and the day of the personal coming-out. Together with the Lambda youth network and the dbna web portal , he organized a video competition for young people in 2009 under the title “Outtakes - your announcement for the coming-out day” with two categories: 1.) “I am gay, lesbian, bi-, hetero- or transsexual, but that doesn't mean that I… “where clichés can be consciously played with. 2.) "I come out for ...", where everyone can reveal a little secret. In Germany and Austria there will also be numerous campaigns on May 17th, the International Day Against Homophobia .

Other countries

In the UK, the first known action on COD was carried out in 2000 by then Mr. Gay UK . In November 2007 in the Netherlands, the Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Ronald Plasterk , spoke of the need for a COD, also known there as Coming-Out-Dag , and was supported by the entire cabinet. In 2008 the first Dutch coming-out day was held with the active support of the Minister. In Russia, the first activities on COD took place in St. Petersburg in October 2008 as well. Further activities are known from Canada.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : National Coming Out Day  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: October 11th is coming-out day (above 2009)  - message

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Willmes: Homophobia and gay hatred - causes and countermeasures , ulrich-willmes.de
  2. ↑ For example: Stefan Timmermanns: Don't be afraid, they don't bite !: Evaluation of gay and lesbian education projects in schools , dissertation at the educational science faculty of the University of Cologne 2003, publisher: Jugendnetzwerk Lambda Nordrhein-Westfalen, BoD - Books on Demand, 2003, ISBN 3 -8334-0166-4 , p. 128
    Personal considerations: Hans-Georg Wiedemann: Homophobia (archived) ( Memento of March 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) , lecture of October 27, 2004 at the Forum: Limits of Recognition at the working conference of International Society for Depth Psychology 2004
  3. ↑ Meike Watzlawik: Sexual Orientations: Away from thinking in drawers , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009, ISBN 3-525-40418-2 , p. 109
  4. ↑ Linda Rapp: O'Leary, Jean ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2004, version dated August 10, 2005, in: Claude J. Summers (Ed.): Glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.glbtq.com
  5. ↑ a b c d History of National Coming Out Day ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Human Rights Campaign Fund @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hrc.org
  6. ^ Mark Thompson: Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate. History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement , New York (St. Martin's Press), 1995. ISBN 0-312-09536-8 , p. 329
  7. ↑ Come Out and Vote Video Contest , Human Rights Campaign, 2008
  8. ↑ Solidarity Sunday ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , DignityUSA, June 16, 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dignityusa.org
  9. ^ A b c Event Ideas for National Coming Out Day , Human Rights Campaign
  10. ↑ FAQ - The National Coming Out Day OUTList ( Memento December 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education, 2005; at Archive.org as of December 13, 2007
  11. ↑ COD: It's Not About Sex , Pink Cross, October 9, 2008
  12. ↑ 1997: October - Volksblatt “Coming-Out Day” ( memento of the original from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , flay.li, archive  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.flay.li
  13. ↑ About Coming Out Day e. V.
  14. ↑ "Outtakes - your announcement for the coming-out day"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Lambda youth network.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.lambda-online.de  
  15. ↑ Harry French launches Coming Out Day , 2000
  16. ↑ Robin van der Kloor: Plasterk wil Coming Out Day voor homo's ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Elsevier, November 9, 2007 Plasterk strijdt voor homo's ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , gay.nl, November 9, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.elsevier.nl
     @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gay.nl
  17. ↑ COMING OUT DAG SPECIAL , coc.nl, October 7, 2008
  18. ↑ Russia registers lesbian and gay association , ggg.at, February 18, 2009