The first National Coming Out Day took place on October 11, 1988, a day that marks the one-year anniversary of the march on Washington for Gay and Lesbian rights. The day was meant to show the public that gays and lesbians (and now more broadly LGBTQ) individuals were everywhere. The increased visibility that coming out provided was seen as essential to gaining equal rights and treatment. Showing people that LGBTQ identity is everywhere, as well as claimed by diverse groups of people could provide a humanizing view of LGBTQ identities to those with negative impressions regarding them.
Gay Liberation framed coming out and being out in public as a political statement against the existing oppressions affecting gay and lesbian identities, essentially stating that gays and lesbians were no longer going to accept being compliant in their own oppression. | National Coming Out Day was not the first push for using increased visibility of LGBTQ identity as a tool for social and political change. The ideas behind this originated much earlier during a period known as “gay liberation” following the Stonewall Riots in June of 1969. Gay Liberation was a movement that literally called for visibility, and for people to come out, which was very different than the Homophile Movement that preceded it. The Homophile Movement functioned to show people that gays and lesbian identities weren’t different from straight identities and attempted to gain tolerance in this very assimilationist way portraying lesbian and gay identities. |