The colors of the rainbow filled Archer’s historic courtyard while Madonna, girl in red, Diana Ross and David Bowie echoed through the air at lunch Thursday, Oct. 12, to celebrate National Coming Out Day.
The Gender Sexuality Alliance hosts the celebration annually. In an email inviting the Archer community to the event, GSA board member Bryce Collis (’25) wrote, “National Coming Out Day is awesome because it celebrates our ability to be openly ourselves every day.”
The celebration typically takes place in conjunction with International Day of the Girl, but Girls Empowering Girls’ celebration of International Day of the Girl is now postponed to Tuesday, Oct. 17. Originally, the National Coming Out Day celebration was going to take place Tuesday, Oct. 10. GSA decided to postpone the celebration to avoid a conflict with the affinity spaces for processing the ongoing attacks on Israel.
GSA board members Collis, Sadie Long (’24), Remi Cannon (’24) and Vivianne Arnold (’26) set up tables in the courtyard with papers for students and faculty to write who their favorite queer icons are, as well as why coming out is important to them. Long explained GSA’s intentions and goals for the event.
“The goal of this is to bring more awareness to the efforts of the queer community, but also [to] this day, which is incredibly important to many people,” Long said. “[We want to] educate people on queer issues and the idea of coming out but also to reinforce that everyone is accepted and welcomed.”
Fitness and Wellness Teacher Natalie Chambers is one of GSA’s faculty advisers and said the club members and Executive Board had several meetings to discuss what they wanted included in the celebration.
“We had several meetings leading up to this … just to discuss how we [were] going to have it involve inclusivity and making sure that everyone feels welcome,” Chambers said. “We wanted to have stickers and activities just to bring everyone together.”
Even though sophomore Lucy Kaplan does not identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she said she appreciates being able to have a moment of joy and take a break from news about the acts of terrorism in Israel, which have affected her emotionally. She added that she also appreciates that queer Archer students and faculty are able to celebrate their identities.
“I have a lot of friends who have come out, and I like that there’s a chance for them to be proud of who they are and to celebrate,” Kaplan said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now, and the idea of celebrating who you are is really great and super positive.”
Collis, Long and Chambers all said they enjoy National Coming Out Day and the opportunity it gives queer Archer students to celebrate their identities. GSA member Zoë Stewart (’28) said she believes all sexual identities should be normalized, and people should not have to come out to be accepted by others around them.
“Sometimes, I don’t really like the idea of coming out because it’s just sort of like, ‘Why should you have to come out if you’re queer, but then if you’re straight, you don’t have to?’” Stewart said. “I feel like … it’s good to celebrate anyway.”
Similarly, Long said she hopes members of the LGBTQ+ community do not feel pressured to come out or feel that it is required of them to be considered a part of the community or to be who they truly are. She added that as a queer person herself, she is extremely grateful to have people close to her who accept her and make her feel comfortable being herself because not everyone has that opportunity.
“I think it’s a privilege. And for me, it’s the privilege to be able to share my authentic self with people that I care about — my family and my friends — because being queer is a really large part of my identity, and it always will be,” Long said. “Just getting to share that part of myself is so important to me and it, to me, feels like it allows others to see me for my full self.”
Additional reporting completed by Multimedia Editor Francie Wallack (’25).
