Plymouth-October 11th is National Coming Out Day, a time for those who have not come out of the closet to step out into the world and celebrate their sexuality.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation; the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization in the United States, established National Coming Out Day in 1987. The event is recognized and supported by gay/straight alliances nationally.
The event is not a time for “coming out” it is also a celebration for those people of the gay community who have already come out as well as a time for their straight alliances who want to show their support.
The goal of National Coming Out Day is to unite people as a whole, to break the boundaries between sexual orientations, and to help everyone gain a larger understanding of one another.
Plymouth State University’s Women’s Services, a section of Plymouth State University’s Gender Resources and ALSO joined in the celebration by setting up a “Coming Out Closet” complete with a Rainbow door in the HUB.
The booth was run by members of ALSO and included pamphlets describing National Coming Out Day and support pins displaying the pride flag.
PSU was presented with the Pride Flag in the HUB along with a plaque describing the Flag’s importance. Each color in the Flag has its own connotations to the promotion of gay/straight equality. Red symbolizes life, orange stands for healing, yellow is for the sun, green is for nature, royal blue is for harmony and violet is for spirit.
This Flag shows that Plymouth is dedicated to uniting the entire campus as a whole.
Matthew Blocker, a graduate student here at Plymouth says that “I feel Plymouth State is about 75% accepting of the gay/lesbian community. Plymouth is heading in the right direction, more students are learning that it’s okay to ask questions about the gay community, this helps everyone understand one another more and bridge the gap between the gay and straight community.”
“Women’s services and ALSO would like to thank the PSU community for their cooperation and support” says Blocker.
For anyone who is interested in learning more about Plymouth’s Gay/Straight Alliance, meetings are held every Monday night at 8 pm in room HUB 118.