Come Out for Love
Today marks the 25th annual National Coming Out Day, a day that offers a space for sharing core pieces of ourselves with others. In a society where “religion” is often equated with hatred toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified people, National Coming Out Day offers the powerful opportunity for all people of faith—allies, religious communities, family members of LGBTQ people, and LGBTQ folks ourselves—to come out as welcoming and loving.
Recently, Zach Wahls came out as the child of a same-gender couple, changing hearts and minds within the Boy Scouts, at the DNC, and for millions of YouTube viewers, “The Matrix” film director Lana Wachowski publicly came forward as a transgender woman, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper came out as a gay man, more than 30 Unitarian Universalist congregations came out for the first time as Welcoming Congregations, and countless DREAMers came out as queer, undocumented, and unafraid. Each in turn pointed the way toward the world we dream about.
Now it’s your turn! Click here for 10 unique ways anyone can take action today. And—if you are a member of a congregation—click here to learn how religious communities can come out as welcoming places for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
Whether you speak out as an individual or as a member of a congregation, as an LGBTQ-identified person or as a loving ally, your coming out will be a necessary reaffirmation. You really can make a difference this National Coming Out Day!
Click here for 10 ways to take action as an individual. Click here to learn more about how your congregation can get involved.
So come out! Together, we can create the Beloved Community where, as the UUA Leadership Council puts it, all people are welcomed as blessings and the human family lives whole and reconciled. We can if we come out in prophetic witness of the world that can yet be if we can only imagine it, hold it sacred, and do not rest until it comes.
In faith,
Alex Kapitan
LGBTQ & Multicultural Programs Administrator
Unitarian Universalist Association
The message above went out on Thursday, October 11, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.
