Students and community members gathered at the University of New Mexico LGBTQ Resource Center Wednesday, Oct. 10 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of National Coming Out Day.
According to the Human Rights Campaign website, National Coming Out Day was first celebrated in 1988 on the anniversary of the Second National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights, which took place on Oct. 11, 1987. It was created to encourage and celebrate those who made the decision to come out.
“For a lot of people coming out is a moment of being able to say, ‘This is who I truly am,’” said Frankie Flores, educational director at the LGBTQ Resource Center. “Being LGBTQ is not just about who we love and who we chose to share our lives with, it’s also a culture. It’s history. It’s tradition.”
While the national observance of National Coming Out Day was on Oct. 11, the LGBTQ Resource Center held their event on Oct. 10 because of UNM’s Fall Break.
The Center has held an event for National Coming Out Day every year since their founding in 2010. Prior to that, the day was celebrated at UNM through the Queer Student Alliance.
Flores said the event was meant to show students that there are LGBTQ role models on UNM campus.
“I’m very fortunate that I am professionally gay,” Flores said. “I’m so fortunate to be at not just a center, but at a University that celebrates that, honors that and allows me to be as gay as I want to be.”
He said that it also shows students that it’s safe to be openly LGBTQ and that they will be accepted if they make the decision come out.
“When people ask me what it’s like to come out, I tell them to imagine having an identity that you really hold very, very, deeply and it’s apart of who you are; it’s in your DNA,” Flores said. “For so many people it’s that moment that I can breathe and I don’t have to worry about using language that is safe and is not going to out me.”
Flores recalled a past National Coming Out Day where one of the students he worked with closely came out as transgender while giving a speech at the annual event.
“And it was that moment of, ‘I get to see you as you see yourself, and now you get to show the world who you really are,’” Flores said with tears in his eyes.
Those who identify as LGBTQ are not the only ones who can participate in National Coming Out Day. Flores said it is also important for people to come out as advocates for LGBTQ rights.
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“We need people to say, ‘Yes, you need your rights,’ and ‘How can I use my heterosexual privilege to help you get those rights?’” Flores said.
He said coming out as an advocate can be as simple as standing up against homophobic comments.
Andrew Gomez, a student emplyee at the LGBTQ Resource Center, said that National Coming Out Day is a very large part of the LGBTQ community, so having events like this to connect the community is fun.
“What I like about just being out with the community is I don’t have to lie about myself anymore,” Gomez said. “I can actually be who I want to be.”
Makayla Grijalva is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @MakaylaEliboria.
