National Coming Out Day
October 11
National Coming Out Day is an annual LGBTQIA2S+ awareness day observed on October 11 to support anyone “coming out of the closet”. First celebrated in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation spirit of the personal being political, and the emphasis on the most basic form of activism being coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly LGBTQIA2S+ person. The founders believed that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance and that once people know that they have loved ones who are LGBTQIA2S+, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views.