National Coming Out Day!

NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY: OCTOBER 11

Preliminary notation:

National Coming Out Day is actually on Wednesday of this week. It is my Monday offering here on ReNude Pride so that everyone can be prepared to “hail” to the big day when it arrives! Come out based on your sexuality! Come out because you’re proud to be bare! Come out everywhere! Enjoy a day of just “being you!”

During the expanding global HIV/AIDS pandemic, openly gay artist Keith Haring created the below graphic to salute the initial National Coming Out Day commemoration on October 11, 1988. The event was created in order to encourage all GLBTQ+ people to “come out of the closet of their secrecy and shame” and to take pride in who they are! The date selected for the first National Coming Out Day was the first anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights.

The HIV/AIDS crisis was unfortunately “outing” an alarming number of gay men only after they had succumbed (died) from the ravages of the disease. The initial public display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt happened in conjunction with the 1987 March. The purpose of the National Coming Out Day was to enable the SGL community to boldly self-identify itself notoriously and numerically! It also was in the tradition of several celebrities publicly “coming out” in honour of the 1987 March on Washington.

A very simple truth that regrettably centuries of oppression and torture could not be easily acknowledged by many. National Coming Out Day sought to end the marginalization and ostracism felt by many due to their sexuality. The encouragement of persons to willingly identify themselves without embarrassment and shame forced many to see that bisexuals, gays and lesbians included family and friends. One of the goals of National Coming Out Day is to prove to the mainstream population that the GLBTQ+ population is as diverse as ever and also includes persons they never thought as “being that way” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+)!

This forced many persons who had remained passive and silent while the same gender loving community and culture were being harassed, marginalized and ridiculed to finally face the reality that some members of their family and some of their friends were honestly members of the very community that was being condemned. This sudden “truth” forced multitudes to examine their consciences and confront their prejudices. The result initiated a gradual transition in society’s thinking and views on the GLBTQ+ people.

The original concept of the National Coming Out Day was for the same gender loving communities to openly acknowledge their sexuality. The personal evolved into being the political. The emphasis is on the basic form of activism as openly being same gender loving to colleagues, family and friends. Here on this site, ReNude Pride, we go an additional step and include our bare practitioner affiliation!

There is absolutely no reason for any of us to feel any guilt, humiliation or shame in being what and who we are. No matter who we love and no matter whether we are dressed in clothing or proudly bare, we are entitled to be ourselves! As long as we aren’t hurting anyone else, what difference does it make? All of us have the very human right to be ourselves every day of our lives without any fear or penalty for different!

A bare practitioner is calm, content and relaxed when either publicly (socially) or privately appearing in their native “natural” state. There is no anxious or nervous concern over appearance or the opinions of others. We accept all of our physical differences and limitations as making each one of us as unique and then we move forward in our lives. The priority is our quest to be the very best what and who we are not only for ourselves but also for all others around us!

Have a great and openly proud National Coming Out Day!

Naked hugs!

Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride

Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, October 13, 2023, and the proposed topic is: “The Rainbow Emerges!”