Here’s a shoutout to the folks who aren’t coming out today.
Because I used to be one of you, and in some ways still am (and probably always will be).
Because people deserve to have their choices honored, and that right still applies if self-protection means “no, I will not come out.”
Because it doesn’t always get better.
Because “out” often means follow-up questions like “out enough?” and “out to who?” and judging others based on that.
Because “out” is not the same for all orientations, for all bodies, for all races, for all ethnicities, for all religions (just to name a few variables). (Dan Savage’s and Ellen Degeneres’ “out,” for example, has nothing to do with me.)
Because visibility is nothing without some serious examination of what happens next.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re visible as part of my community - your identities are no less valid than mine, and I’m glad to stand somewhere near you under the giant queer umbrella.
