National Coming Out Week begins today

Almost exactly a month after rocks shattered the windows of the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center in what police
called a hate crime, National Coming Out Week begins today, themed
“Coming together, Coming out!”

This year’s events hold special importance in light of the
attacks, said chairperson of the Queer Alliance Paymon
Ebrahimzadeh, and are focused on encouraging a positive community
and environment.

“Visibility (of the LGBT community) means
education,” Ebrahimzadeh said. “(Coming out is) the one
experience that all queer people have.”

The Queer Alliance, a coalition of LGBT student groups, has been
planning the week since spring of last year. Ebrahimzadeh, who is a
third-year music history student, said the events are for the
entire community, not just LGBT students.

One of the goals of National Coming Out Week is to strip people
of stereotypes they may have of the LGBT community, Ebrahimzadeh
said.

Artistic workshops, a film, open-mic spoken word performances, a
speech from Karamo from MTV’s “The Real World”
and a dance are among the week’s scheduled events.

National Coming Out Day is held on Oct. 11 every year and was
established in 1988 to commemorate the second March on Washington
for Lesbian and Gay Rights on Oct. 11, 1987.

Many LGBT students say coming out, when a person publicly
embraces their sexuality, can be the hardest thing they have to
do.

Ronni Sanlo, director of the LGBT Resource Center, said she
hopes the visibility of National Coming Out Week can give strength
to students.

“I very much believe that coming out is a personal
journey. Not everybody is ready to come out the instant their foot
hits the college campus,” Sanlo said. “Those who are
able to come out, their visibility and their voices are important
for those who are not yet ready to be out.”

“The primary hope is that those who are still in the
closet will know that there are sisters and brothers around them to
support them and love them when they are ready to come out,”
Sanlo said.

The LGBT Resource Center was burglarized and vandalized in a
string of attacks in September before most students returned to
campus.

Police arrested 22-year-old Robert Gerald Grosfield, a student,
at his home in Ventura County on Sept. 29 and charged him with
interfering with the exercise of civil rights.

He was freed on $50,000 bond.