Beautiful moments shared on National Coming Out Day

Terry Baddoo, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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National Coming Out Day – a date on the calendar when members of the LGBTQ+ community celebrate their identity and the courageous rite of passage commonly called "coming out."

NCOD was created in 1988 by activists Robert Eichberg and Jean O'Leary. They chose October 11th as a day of awareness to mark the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights held in the previous year.

In 2022, the idea of having a specific day to celebrate coming out seems a bit limiting to some. Instead, they see the goal in broader terms. "Coming Out Day isn't necessarily meant to be the day you come out unless you really, really want to," says Queer Eye fashion guru Tan France. "It's more of a day to reflect and support the journey of others."

Watch the video above to see a deeply emotional moment when a young man comes out to his mother.

Nonetheless, to many members of the LGBTQ+ community, "coming out" remains a badge of honor and self-esteem, a statement of identity that they're proud to share with the world. But will that always be the case? Well, there are certainly some in the gay and lesbian community who hope it won't be.

SA Smythe, an assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, sees a day where "coming out" will be unnecessary.

"There's going to be a future where coming out is not relevant because I politically believe that there's going to be a future where gender is irrelevant. That's part of why we have to come out. It's because there is an overwhelming norm that is called the patriarchy, that is called heterosexuality that is presumed. And I fundamentally believe that that's going to be abolished in our lifetimes."

For now, National Coming Out Day endures as a symbolic gesture of unity and support among and for the LGBTQ+ community, which honors the pride its members feel in being who they are.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beautiful moments of coming out shared on National Coming Out Day