National Coming Out Day is on October 11 and Lake Land is celebrating all of our LGTBQ+ students and staff! Coming Out Day is a “positive celebration of queerness,” and a day made to support those who are “coming out of the closet.”

What is “coming out?” According to the student PRIDE club sponsor Marcy Satterwhite, coming out means “sharing your identity with first yourself–because that’s part of the process; figuring out ‘who am I?’ and ‘how do I fit in?’–and then coming out to supportive friends and family members, and then other people.”

People have been working hard for LGBTQ+ rights for generations, and to have a holiday such as this one means the world to those who have worked so hard to find their identity and share it with the world.

Coming out day was started on October 11, 1987 when “over half a million people marched for queer rights in Washington D.C.,” says Satterwhite, “and a couple of people set up Coming Out Day, and it’s been celebrated every year since then.” 

Our Campus’s PRIDE club plans on setting up an informational display in the lobby of Luther Student Center the week of Coming out day–October 6 to October 13– to help raise awareness about the celebration and coming out.

“We’ve done this every year, save for last year,” continues Satterwhite, “[the display] kind of explains what Coming Out Day is, and some resources for people who want to come out, and then [provides] other information who want to be supportive. That’s a huge thing about Coming Out Day: to have people who are supportive, family, fellow students, and people like that.”

Satterwhite shared some of her personal story with coming out, and how it is not something you do just once. 

Satterwhite states,“Coming out is something you have to do your whole life; I identify as lesbian, and have been married to her since it has been legal to be married. We’ve been together for 20 years and I still find when we have someone like the furnace repair person come over, or someone like that, that they’ll always ask about my husband,” she continues, “So then I just have to out myself again and again throughout life, and that’s the way it is for people in this community.” 

Having support from others through this process is incredibly important, and the PRIDE club stresses that having someone supportive is very helpful for a person who is trying to find themselves and their identity. 

“Having supportive friends and family members is really important, especially to a young person who is struggling to find where they fit into the world, and their identity,” Satterwhite tells, “and unfortunately we have a lot of people commit suicide because they don’t feel they have supportive friends and family.”

The PRIDE club’s main focus is to let students find the support that they need in the group members, and teach others how they can support the LGBTQ+ community.

“The more education we can do for everybody, the better. That way, we can provide a supportive environment for the students themselves, but also educate others, who may not know how hard it is in this community, to provide that support.” Satterwhite finishes.

Be sure to check out the informational display in the Luther Student Center so you can get to know a little bit more about Coming Out Day and how you can support it. We at the Navigator News wish you a wonderful Coming Out Day, and hope to see you there!

If you would like to know more information about the Lake Land student PRIDE club, you can check out their Facebook page Lake Land student PRIDE, join their Club email list by emailing [email protected], or go to the PRIDE club meetings on the second Wednesday of each month in Webb Hall at 11 a.m..