Rally begins National Coming Out Week
By Dorothy Augustyniak
Oct. 7, 2002 9:00 p.m.
A rally headlined by national gay rights activist Candace
Gingrich kicked off National Coming Out Week in Meyerhoff Park
Monday.
The week-long effort is designed to provide a welcoming
environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students to
reveal their sexual orientation to the public, and to increase
awareness of the LGBT community as a whole.
National Coming Out Week is sponsored by a coalition of gay,
lesbian, transsexual, and bisexual student organizations on campus,
including BlaQue, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, La Familia, Mahu,
and Mishpacha.
“Coming out of the closet” is the principle means by
which stereotypes are broken, homophobia is relieved, and
communication begins, speakers said.
Candace Gingrich, former spokesperson for the Human Rights
Campaign Foundation and half-sister of Newt Gingrich, former
speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said with the many
stereotypes existing in today’s society, people simply assume
that all members of the LGBT community have a culture of their own
because of their sexual orientation.
Bryon Williams, co-chair of GALA and a fifth-year astrophysics
student, came to the rally to make it known that lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered people exist at all levels of
society.
“People will learn that the LGBT community crosses all
ethnic, racial, and economic divisions,” Williams said.
Since its first anniversary on Oct. 11, 1987, National Coming
Out Day has been celebrated every year to commemorate the day when
half a million people marched on Washington, D.C. for gay
equality.
Faith Cheltenham, co-chair of BlaQue and a fifth-year history
student, said National Coming Out week is a chance for people to
realize that gays deserve the same civil rights as
heterosexuals.
“It’s not (all) about being honest of who you are.
It’s about being recognized and respected by others,”
she said.
According to the Gallup Poll taken in 1993, 43 percent of
Americans knew someone who was gay or lesbian.
Nine years later, the poll recently reported the number
increased to 73 percent.
Fourth-year psychobiology student Annie Chow said she came to
the rally because her former boyfriend recently “came out of
the closet.”
Upcoming events for the week include film screenings, open-mic
nights and a poetry reading.
A carnival will take place this Friday at Bruin Plaza, and the
week will culminate on Sunday afternoon with a barbecue at Veteran
Park.
For more information on National Coming Out Week and scheduled
events at UCLA, log on to http://www.gaybruins.com.
