Campus group Celebrates National Coming Out Day
Holly Mcauley
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: News
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On Thursday, Oct. 11, Henderson's Queer/Straight Alliance will help to celebrate National Coming Out Day on the Quad.
Coming Out Day is an annual celebration of all sexualities. It has been celebrated on Oct. 11 since the 1987 Gay and Lesbian March on Washington, when more than half a million people marched on the capitol to raise awareness about AIDS.
This year is especially significant, as it is also the 20-year anniversary of this march.
QSA members will set up a door on the Quad so people can "come out" through it as either queer or as a queer ally. 'Queer ally' is a term that refers to a heterosexual person who supports equality for all sexualities. There will be cupcakes, drinks and music. The door will be set up from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
QSA is going into its third year on campus. Previous groups of its nature existed in the past at Henderson, but the current incarnation began in the fall of 2005 when former Henderson student Adam Britt and Jeremy Gabbard, now a senior general studies major, approached Professor of Theatre Arts William Henshaw about creating the group.
"Originally, with Adam and I, it was two disjointed efforts that got lumped together," Gabbard said. "I had tried to get something started the previous spring with other people, but that didn't get off the ground. When Adam came along we combined forces."
QSA was designed with the intent to foster openness and dialogue between people of all sexualities, including gay, straight, bisexual and transgender.
The group faced some skepticism about the use of the word queer, but Britt hopes the use will lessen the word's emotional charge.
"'Queer' has been a derogatory term for so long, so we wanted to get it out there and let people know it isn't a derogatory term," Britt said. "It actually basically means anyone who isn't straight. Hopefully people will say, "Well, it says 'queer' on a big poster so it can't be that bad."
In the past, QSA has held events such as one called Visibility. Every other Friday, group members stood on the corner of 10th and Pine and held posters encouraging acceptance and equality for all sexualities.
Coming Out Day is an annual celebration of all sexualities. It has been celebrated on Oct. 11 since the 1987 Gay and Lesbian March on Washington, when more than half a million people marched on the capitol to raise awareness about AIDS.
This year is especially significant, as it is also the 20-year anniversary of this march.
QSA members will set up a door on the Quad so people can "come out" through it as either queer or as a queer ally. 'Queer ally' is a term that refers to a heterosexual person who supports equality for all sexualities. There will be cupcakes, drinks and music. The door will be set up from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
QSA is going into its third year on campus. Previous groups of its nature existed in the past at Henderson, but the current incarnation began in the fall of 2005 when former Henderson student Adam Britt and Jeremy Gabbard, now a senior general studies major, approached Professor of Theatre Arts William Henshaw about creating the group.
"Originally, with Adam and I, it was two disjointed efforts that got lumped together," Gabbard said. "I had tried to get something started the previous spring with other people, but that didn't get off the ground. When Adam came along we combined forces."
QSA was designed with the intent to foster openness and dialogue between people of all sexualities, including gay, straight, bisexual and transgender.
The group faced some skepticism about the use of the word queer, but Britt hopes the use will lessen the word's emotional charge.
"'Queer' has been a derogatory term for so long, so we wanted to get it out there and let people know it isn't a derogatory term," Britt said. "It actually basically means anyone who isn't straight. Hopefully people will say, "Well, it says 'queer' on a big poster so it can't be that bad."
In the past, QSA has held events such as one called Visibility. Every other Friday, group members stood on the corner of 10th and Pine and held posters encouraging acceptance and equality for all sexualities.
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