LGBTQ+ History Month helps raise awareness

By Jazmine Finuliar
True Colors President 2021-2022 

Happy LGBTQ+ History Month! This month is one where we all must come together to acknowledge the historical events and figures that were the foundation of where LGBTQ+ liberation currently stands. One of the very special days that our community shows our support through is National Coming Out Day (NCOD). 

National Coming Out Day is celebrated every October 11th in order to raise awareness for coming out, and encourages people of the community to embrace who they are. The first National Coming Out Day was celebrated in 1988 by gay rights activists Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary to observe the 1 year anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for LGBTQ+ Rights. At the time, being closeted and holding heteronormative perspectives were normal occurrences in society. Because of that, they strived to destigmatize the LGBTQ+ community in order to provide a safer environment for young people of the community to express themselves freely. 

Because the 11th is also Indigenous People's Day, we at True Colors chose to celebrate it on October 12th in order to bring everyone together at the same time. Established in 2018, True Colors is an organization that strives to promote allyship, education, and a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals on campus. Every NCOD, we distribute rainbow stickers to people all over campus. Each person is able to write whatever label they are proud to be, and it is also an option for the person to simply not write a label. Seeing everyone wear their sticker in support of NCOD was truly a sign of hope and progression towards completely deconstructing bias against the LGBTQ+ community. Though we think that there is still a lot of work left to do, taking it one step at a time through events like this greatly contributes to that objective.