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A ‘coming out day’ planned for Oct. 11
By Joe Crowley
IV Leader Columnist, Oct. 2, 2003
On Oct. 11, some IVCC groups will recognize National Coming Out Day. This is a chance for any gay student “hiding in the closet” to come out and feel comfortable about it.
One campus group, the Diversity Team, will wear purple T-shirts to help promote awareness.
Nevertheless, the question this reporter has for the readers is why? Gay will never be totally 100 percent socially acceptable. Now before you get angry and put down the paper in disgust, please read on.
I think that someday very soon the majority of American society will accept gays. No other country in the world puts so much emphasis on a person’s sexual preference. So why do we? What is the point in having a gay pride day? All it does is draw attention to a detail that does not merit attention. If a person can connect with members of his/her own gender better than one of the opposite sex, more power to you. Who are we to criticize and tell them that they are wrong?
To illustrate my point I polled some people that I know who are gay and some people I know who are straight. I asked them the same question; “What do you think about National Coming out Day?” All of the people polled agreed that it is a nice gesture but it is more patronizing than helpful. The only people that seem to get all fired up against these things are homophobic idiots. These same people singled out blacks for no reason other than skin color 50 years ago. Retrospectively, we can all see how stupid they were.
There is still work to be done. But, before I get way off track bashing the gay bashers let us not forget the real reason I am writing this article.
National Coming out Day is on Oct. 11.
So if you are one of the people still hanging out in the closet, come on out and take a look around: I think you will be pleasantly surprised.