Happy National Coming Out Day to you all! I hope you’re all doing well and are adjusting back to Uni, post-holidays. We’re so lucky to have some warmer and sunnier weather now – maybe it’s time to spend some ‘you’ time, and enjoy.
For National Coming Out Day, I think it’s important to recognise the incredible strides we have made for queer rights and in Australia around the world. Be it same-sex marriage (including recently in Cuba), banning discrimination on the basis of sexuality, banning conversion therapy, supporting our trans kids, or preventing discrimination in schools, we have done so much, even if there is more to go!
Coming out can be an important part of a process of becoming you, and demanding rights for yourself and your community. And we should celebrate it, when it is done with joy.
But I also think that it’s important to remember that not everyone can come out, not everyone wants to come out, and not everyone should have to come out to be included in our stories, and in our communities. In a way, coming out is very much a privilege, and it is tied to white, Western ways of thinking about queerness.
The ritual of coming out can also be a burden to some – straight people do not come out, nor is it expected they should.
Maybe we can see it this way – coming out can be important for some, but not important for others. Maybe it is extremely important for some, but not the be all and end all for others. Whoever you are, and whatever you want, you are lovely just the way you are – out, not out, never going to come out, or communicating to loved ones in ways that are meaningful to you and your culture (which may not look like what we see in the media). On National Coming Out Day, let’s celebrate us. We are worth it.
And remember, SUPRA is always here for you, so don’t ever hesitate to reach out.
Happy ‘you’ day!
Joseph Jordan Black
SUPRA Queer Officer
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