Students Mark National Coming Out Day

Dining halls across campus served giant rainbow-covered cakes on Saturday as part of the weekend’s celebration of National Coming Out Day.

Marco Chan ’11, co-chair of the Harvard-Radcliffe Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance, said the group’s primary goal for the day was to expose Harvard students to available resources on campus.

“There’s still a lot of people coming to terms with their sexual orientation,” Chan said. “One of the important things is to raise visibility of people already out who can serve as models for bringing together their sexual identity and the rest of their lives.”

As part of their effort to increase visibility of resources, two Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Support proctors set up a table in Annenberg for the freshman class, and the Freshman Dean’s Office included pictures and biographies of the three BGLTS proctors in this week’s “Yard Bulletin.”

Besides promoting campus resources, Chan said National Coming Out Day was also an opportunity to celebrate being gay and proud.

“It’s important at Harvard to show that being gay, being queer doesn’t have to impact your life in a negative manner,” Chan said. “In high school I had a tough time because I couldn’t see anyone that was gay, and happy, and successful. It wasn’t until I was 17 in Montreal that I saw people who were gay, in committed relationships, and very happy in their lives. Gay and happy can come together.”

While the co-chairs of BGLSTA said that the weekend’s activities were a success, both also acknowledged that the existence of a “coming out” day demonstrates that there are still barriers to being open with one’s sexuality.

BGLTSA students distributed rainbow pins, safe space signs, and a pamphlets of resources to every College dorm room in the days leading up to National Coming Out Day.

Students and BGLTS tutors also coordinated events in Houses, including a film screening of Margaret Cho’s “I’m the One that I want” in Winthrop.

The celebrations concluded with a concert in the Quincy Cage Saturday night with gay singer and novelist Stewart Lewis.

Relating his own experiences of being told to “play straight” in meetings, Lewis entertained about 20 students with his songs and anecdotes.

“Does anyone have trouble coming out? Or are we all cool?” Lewis asked the audience in between songs. “Everyone has trouble.”

—Staff writer Rachel A. Stark can be reached at rstark@fas.harvard.edu