Today is National Coming Out Day. It is a day that allows people to be who they are and to let everybody around them know it. It all started Oct. 11, 1987, when half a million people participated in a March on Washington. (HRC.org)
It might seem odd that there has to be a day like this. What other group of people gets a day that celebrates their lifestyles? Well, there is Father's Day and Mother's Day. Those days celebrate a lifestyle. But then again, not too many Fathers and Mothers have to pretend they are something different. Most of them can serve openly in the military, carrying pictures of the kids that made them Fathers and Mothers in their wallets.
Not too many of them are blatantly hated, either. Childless people don't go around saying that fatherhood or motherhood is not an "equally valid and successful option" and that Fathers and Mothers should not be allowed to brainwash children into thinking that it is. Or even hint that fatherhood or motherhood was dysfunctional.
Yet, NY Governor-Candidate Carl Paladino said all of that about homosexuals. He also said that being gay is "not the example that we should be showing our children." (NYDailyNews.com)
So, when you have to defend who you are each and every day, endure hate speech and being told that you are dysfunctional, invalid and unsuccessful as a person, you need a day to celebrate. You need to be able to say "I am who I am" and millions of other people should applaud you for it.
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