Gender Sexuality Alliance celebrates Coming Out Day

The FMU Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) celebrated National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 on the Founders Hall lawn to give students a place to “come out” freely.

Members of GSA set up a table for students to leave notes and confessions about what they wanted to come out about, and behind the table, students could post their messages on a bulletin board. Members of GSA were at the table to help support any student wanting to use National Coming Out Day as an outlet.

The messages covered a range of confessional topics, such as “Age, gender, race… love is love” and “I’m coming out as a supporter of the LGBTQ community.”

Mary McKnight, president of GSA, said National Coming Out Day is a day that celebrates acceptance of the ones around you and takes the deliberate action of breaking the stigma surrounding coming out.

According to McKnight, the day is designed for all FMU students, not just those who are a part of the LGBTQ community. McKnight also said more than half of the members of GSA are allies of the LGBTQ community.

“This event is all about supporting one another in the coming out process and living your true life,” McKnight said. “The event allows people to have fun and come out as a ‘My Little Pony lover’ or ‘the secret Batman,’ but it also allows people to truly come out with people around to support them if they wish. This event is all about acceptance and living an open life.”

McKnight also said there is a stigma that exists around coming out.

“I think that, in general, there is a scary feeling around coming out,” McKnight said. “We want a person dealing with this to know there is a place open for them. It doesn’t have to be this scary and impossible thing.”

National Coming Out Day is not just for people coming out about their sexuality, but it’s for anyone wanting to confess a personal truth. Notes about coming out in areas other than sexuality included statements such as “I’m coming out as a liberal,” and “Nothing can stop you.”

Students who identify on all spectrums of the LGBTQ community attended the event.

Posts on the board were from bisexual, pansexual and gay students. The students’ responses varied from serious confessions to things such as “I’m secretly in love with my best friend.” The event, which was an open platform for all students, didn’t just focus on sexuality but anything a student wanted to confess.

According to McKnight, students can join GSA and attend informative meetings to support and get involved with the LGBTQ community on campus.

Students were also encouraged to sign up for GSA and learn more the club to help be allies for different student groups.

McKnight said the importance of being allies for one another on campus is to create a safe environment for any sexual identity and to break gender boundaries. McKnight also said these are all ideals that can be taken away from National Coming Out Day and practiced each day on campus and beyond college.