By: Renae Visico
On Oct. 6, the Brooklyn College (BC) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) Resource Center hosted its second annual Coming Out Day event at the State Lounge in the Student Center.
National Coming Out Day was created by LGBTQ+ activists Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary in 1988, during the anniversary of the Washington March for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It is officially celebrated every year on Oct.11, during LGBTQ+ History Month, to increase visibility and awareness of LGBTQ+ civil rights and well-being.
At BC, the National Coming Out Day event pairs a faculty member with a current BC student to interview each other about their coming out stories. This helps speakers and the audience understand generational differences in LGBTQ+ experiences.
“It’s hard to feel encouraged to really take that step [in coming out] when you’re just thinking about your own life,” LGBTQ+ Center College Assistant Raymond Jones told the Vanguard. “It’s really helpful to come to events and communities that have already had that process and reach out to people who have similar backgrounds and familial situations.”
Once attendees came into the State Lounge, they were seated at tables with jars filled with paper containing conversation prompts. These prompts consisted of questions such as, “What does coming out mean to you?” or “What was your happiest coming out story?” that attendees could ask each other to initiate meaningful conversations with each other.
“Coming out, regardless if it’s to your friends or family, is all about being unapologetically yourself,” said senior Khadija Fall. “I think coming out is so important for a lot of people to be able to express themselves and to know that people in their lives can accept them fully for who they are.”
BC student and musician Brandon Roman set the mood with his guitar, playing a mix of downtempo and jazz music.
“The best part about music is that it’s its own thing. Everyone has their own song to them, and with that music, we can be more connected,” Roman told the Vanguard. “In the LGBTQ+ Center, I always love to play music because my favorite thing to see is everyone talking louder to the music and making the place feel more lively!”
The first student-faculty pair to take the stage was BCAP Assistant Director Jamie Chan and senior Massiel Matute. Both addressed the intersectionality of being queer and Asian, and how their coming-out experiences in coming out were shaped by this unique interaction.
“[Matute] brought a lot of knowledge and expanded the way we think about the BCAP community, for everyone, whether they identify as queer or not,” Chan told the Vanguard.
Many students found the discussion about intersectionality interesting as they were able to get a better understanding of how queerness as an identity isn’t isolated to itself.
“Non-white members of the queer community have faced discrimination and rejection due to [organized LGBTQ+ communities] being predominantly white historically,” said BC student Geronimo. “While this was sad to learn, I’m glad I gained more awareness of this social issue plaguing the queer community.”
Another student-faculty pair that took the stage was Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Alliance (LGBTA) President Ahmed Fall and LGBTQ+ Resource Center Director Kelly Spivey. They had a conversation about the different experiences that a repressed queer person might have compared to someone who was able to come out a bit more easily.
“I felt like I was out for my whole life […] But I think the one thing that has helped me was to be able to find community,” stated Fall. “Coming out is much more of a personal thing, and it’s going to be specific to each person. So even if the person doesn’t choose to come out, I think there is a type of coming out where you have to come out to yourself.”
“For someone who has very little information regarding LGBTQ+ identities, life can be quite confusing when they start to notice they do not fit within heteronormativity,” Spivey added. “If you are raised within those contexts, you could be quite confused when you begin to realize your own sexual and/or gender identity as something different from the norm.”
Paisley Currah, a current BC professor of Political Science and Women & Gender Studies (WGST), spoke with Master’s student Venus Blue about what it means to come out as transgender in today’s political climate.
“We’re both in political science, and we both study the impacts of policies and laws on trans people,” Blue told the Vanguard. “[Currah] is one of the people that figuratively and literally laid the way for me to be the trans scholar that I am today.”
The organizers of the Coming Out Day event wanted students, queer or not, to walk out feeling inspired to seek out community and be more open-minded while listening to different people’s experiences.
“You’re not gonna understand everything, but the least you can do is respect someone,” said Fall. “It might be, at most, uncomfortable to you, but people have to learn to be uncomfortable.”
For more information on the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, visit @lgbtqcenter_bc on Instagram or 219 Student Center.