This year, as in previous years, many young men and women will come out on October 11. As some of you are aware, this day usually brings out the worst in bullies, which causes a rash of suicides in teens. Although I keep hoping that LGBT teens are now aware of the many resources available to them and the recent initiatives against bullying that have been implemented all over the world, I’m afraid that as in previous years, some teens may be so traumatized by bullying that they will take their own lives as so many others have done in the past.
The majority of the teen suicides in previous years were avoidable and preventable. These teens took their lives because they were bullied or outed by another person who got their kicks by harassing someone who may already be struggling with coming to terms with their being gay, and they were either too devastated or didn’t know where to go for help. Many teenagers won’t be here to come out today or anything else because they are no longer with us – sadly they will have ended their own lives.
In honor of National Coming Out Day, author and Advocate contributor Christopher Bram created the following video for the It Gets Better Project. In the video Bram speaks about his experience with harassment in the Boy Scouts and how each and every one of us can put an end to bullying:
October is also LGBT History Month and the right hand sidebar on the site includes videos of LGBT icons. In addition, you can check out Ebooks with Pride: Stories of a Movement which features stories on coming out, LGBT icons, and AIDS in fiction.
Let’s all support those LGBT teens who are coming out today and join the fight against bullying.
If you are interested in reading past articles on National Coming Out Day on this site you can check out the Featured Posts on the right hand sidebar.