I recently read an article stating that National Coming Out Day should no longer be celebrated. The author argued that National Coming Out Day’s benefits are outweighed by the negatives. They believe that coming out on this day sends the notion that homosexuality is an oddity, not part of normal culture and society. They believe that since straight people don’t come out, why do gay people?

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I think a lot of this author’s points comes from a place of privilege. Even though they are a member of the LGBTQ community, that does not mean they are automatically correct. If one has already come out, it is easy to tell younger people that we do not need National Coming Out Day anymore. Homogenization of the LGBT community is counterproductive, and ignores all the strides gay people have made over decades.

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Not every gay person uses National Coming Out Day to come out, but plenty still do. Regardless if one uses it to actually come out, it is a day to raise awareness of the LGBTQ community in general. The more, the better. The people that are bothered by this must realize that they have a privilege of either: being a straight person, or a gay person that has comes to term with their identity.

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Many people from the LGBTQ community struggle with loving and accepting themselves. National Coming Out Day is a symbolic day that empowers people to embrace themselves and tell others who they truly are. Even if one doesn’t come out on this day, it raises awareness to struggling individuals for the future. The more prevalent and apparent something is in society, the more likely they are to be accepted. Hiding oneself and proclaiming that people shouldn’t come out is damaging, and is the very thing that keeps people in the closet. This is why we have pride parades, and do not have straight pride parades.

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Straight people are not discriminated against for being straight, but every LGBTQ person has faced some form of discrimination for simply being themselves. The more avenues that gay people have to fully embrace themselves, the better.

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We still have ways to go to ensure that people of the LGBTQ community have equal rights in society. Just because gay marriage is legal does not mean we should stop now. There are still plenty of states where gay people can be fired just because they are gay. Gay couples sometimes have issues adopting as well, even though there are plenty of children that need a loving family.

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Many people believe that the LGBTQ community needs to be homogenized into society. But there’s nothing wrong with being a smaller subgroup of society, as long as one is treated fairly as anyone else is then there is no damage done. It’s okay to not be the same as every straight person, diversity is a beautiful part of life. It’s okay to be a rebel, to be a deviant. These are the kind of people that make the most impactful changes in society.

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National Coming Out Day is an important part of the awareness movement that galvanizes young people. We should never back down on the amount of times we can raise awareness. Complacency when it comes to civil rights causes minimal to no change. We must always keep pushing, at a sprinting pace. So to everyone else in the LGBTQ community: please keep coming out, we need you.