National Coming Out Day (Idealized)

by Allison Hope · 2010-09-30 11:29:00 UTC
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National Coming Out Day is soon upon us! October 11 each year represents the day that all homophobes dread, a day when we encourage our closeted brothers and sisters (and everyone in between) to come out from the shadows and dark corners and spread their rainbow wings and fly proudly.

While it's hard to say what impact Coming Out Day has on the LGBTQ community in terms of equal rights, the thought of thousands of events taking place across the country on this one day shows, at the least, the solidarity and cohesion that has advanced our equal rights over the past few decades. The drive and ambition that is showcased on this day, both from the people that plan events and open their arms wide, to the folks who conjure up the courage to step out into the sunlight, contains a powerful momentum that will carry us forward toward further securing our place on the stage.

Call me a pessimist, but when I think about Coming Out Day I think about all of the people who remain in the closet and what a mass exodus from the cobwebs of the hidden sexualities would mean for our cause at large.

Can you imagine if everyone suddenly came out on October 11? And I mean everyone! Can you even begin to predict the impact everyone coming out would have on the world at large? Suddenly, your sanitation collector, your dentist, your teacher, your barber, your friend, your mother, your uncle, your great-grandfather would all reveal themselves as capital L, G, B, or Ts. Your financial analyst, your cab driver, the woman who bags your groceries would proudly hang their clothes out in the yard and shed all those years of repression, suppression, and overcompensation that have weighed them down. No more faking. No more shady politicians and ministers sneaking around with their interns and prostitutes.

No more bad coming out books or confessional speeches.

Mostly, if everyone came out of the closet on Coming Out Day this year, there would be to large extent a forced acceptance that would spread like wildfire. After all, who would dare deny a cute little grandmother her right to love freely (or the extremely large, tough bouncer at the club)?

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Allison Hope is a writer and multimedia artist living in New York City.
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