Coming Out Week helps students feel safe and accepted
Alexis DelosSantos, remembers coming out. The Saginaw sophomore and spectrum co-president asked her mother to attend the Queer Monologues, a Coming Out week event where participants memorize a monologue and perform it in front of an audience.
“She was like ‘why are you doing that?’ and I said ‘well, I just wanted to’. She said she didn’t know if she could make it because it was the middle of the week and I was like you really need to come, so she asked why I needed her there so I said ‘well, I have something to tell you’,” DelosSantos said.
With nearly nine million Americans identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, Coming Out week has become an important segway for much of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual and intersex (LGBTQIAP) community to come out to their peers and family without a fear of being judged.
Spectrum is a social organization on campus that seeks to unite members of the campus LGBTQIAP community and their allies.
“I think coming out week is important because it’s a chance for people to explore themselves and just to see what the different sexualities are,” DelosSantos. “It’s also important for those who aren’t in the community to get a sense of what exactly it means to be a part of the community.”
Marysville freshman Delany Lemke believes coming out week is important because it’s a way to help a largely invisible community find support.
"When coming to college, one is suddenly surrounded by diverse sexualities and gender identities, so this might be a student’s first time being able to fully embrace their identity and have a community that validates their experiences,” said Lemke, who identifies as a lesbian. “Coming out week really let's people celebrate themselves."
Allendale freshman Sydney Nummer finds this to be an important step because it’s a way of “showing that they’re proud of who they are”
"I think that this week allows people to remember that no matter the sexual preference, we are all the same and all deserve to be treated like a human,” Nummer, who is an ally of the community, explained. “We all deserve to be loved for who we are, not the way that we choose to live our lives."
CALENDAR: Coming Out week begins Monday with Why Coming Out Matters, a photo shoot by Matthew Pruitt, occuring all day in the Center for Inclusion and Diversity. Drag Queen Bingo, hosted by drag queen Sabin, will occur from 7-10 p.m. in the University Center Auditorium.
On Tuesday, Soup and Substance will host a panel on intersecting queer identities at 12-1 PM and Coming Out at Kaya, hosted by Spectrum, will be held at the Kaya Coffeehouse at 7 PM.
On Wednesday, Sex, Genderf**ked, a 100 percent inclusive sex ed, will occur at 8-9 PM in the Center for Inclusion and Diversity. On Thursday, Trans 101, hosted by Transcend, will occur at 12-1 PM in the Center for Inclusion and Diversity. On Friday, Safe Zone Training, a training on the basics on being an ally to the LGBTQIAP community, will occur from 1-3 PM in Rowe 229.
To end the week, Saturday features speaker TJ Sullivan, which will be about being Gay and Greek, at 7 PM in the Plachta Auditorium.
