Imagine a world where your existence on earth is questioned, judged, moralized and often times objectified. Imagine living in fear of the society in which you were raised, socialized and conditioned to accept. Imagine living in fear of your family, friends, co-workers and social/religious groups. Imagine all of this happens because of a fraction of what makes you unique and individualistic.

Hopefully all you had to do was imagine. Perhaps you thought of refugees seeking asylum because of a cruel governmental rule or a religious minority fleeing persecution. Maybe, just maybe you pictured a significant percent of the world’s population —- people similar to yourself —- people who may very well be related to you, work with you, study with you, live near you and are going through a situation similar to what was described. What was described is indeed a real life scenario drawn from the silent and spoken stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and straight supportive (allies to the GLBT+ community) folks both of the University and abroad.

Why do these people live in fear? Why wouldn’t they? Bombarded on a daily basis by the evil, wicked and “not quite right-ness” of who they are, GLBT+ folks learn to live two lives: one in which they are what society wants and one in which they are who they need to and must be. Yet, some decide to embrace who they are, as whole people: not just a sexuality or gender(less) person and “come out” as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, questioning or straight supportive. Braving the unknown, these people bust out of their “closet” and live life to the fullest; free of their own boundaries.

Vision, the University’s undergraduate gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, questioning and straight supportive student organization would like to applaud those individuals who are willing to “come out” as who they are and to honor these individuals in sponsoring Coming Out Week.

This week is Coming Out Week in response to the Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Day, which was October 11. Be sure to check out Vision’s website at http://beam.to/vision or call the Vision office at (419) 372-0555 for more information on this week’s events. Also, feel free to check out the Human Rights Campaign website for more information on National Coming Out Day and for resources on NCD at http://www.hrc.org. Be free to be you. Happy Coming Out Day.

Jeanette Beal

STUDENT