Ithaca College

Is there a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) person in your life? Do you work with LGBT students?  Does your curriculum include topics about LGBT youth, adults, or families?  National Coming Out Day is October 11!

Please join us in recognizing National Coming Out Day, which coincides this year with a variety of learning opportunities and events that celebrate the tenth anniversary of the LGBT Center on campus. The LGBT Center 10th Anniversary/Fall Splash webpage has all the details. From a panel discussion of LGBTA alumni spanning five decades at IC, to a speaker on intersex issues, and even an effort to field a group of LGBTA people to run the Habidash 5K and do good for the greater community, the 10th anniversary celebration will provide unique, one-of-a-kind opportunities for students, alumni, and the campus community to learn more about IC’s LGBTA history, and to be a part of our future.

Timely tips for supporting those who are out, or those who may come out to you for the first time this week, are featured in the article by the LGBT Center program director "Ten Tips for Parents of a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender Child."  The program director also serves as a guest blogger on topics affecting LGBT youth and young adults for The Prevention Researcher, a multidisciplinary journal focusing on successful adolescent development and at-risk youth.

Coming out affects not just LGBT people but our friends, families, and allies as well. There are a variety of excellent resources for loved ones of LGBT people who are coming out. If you are in the process of coming out to your family, there are a host of organizations appropriate for particular needs:

• PFLAG (Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays): www.pflag.org
• COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere): www.colage.org
• Straight Spouse Network (for husbands and wives of LGBT people): www.straightspouse.org
• Families Like Mine: www.familieslikemine.com

LGBT History Month is also celebrated throughout October; in honor of this event, Equality Forum has produced 31 video shorts that highlight and celebrate some of the leaders that have made GLBT history. There will be a new short introduced every day for the entire month of October -- each day's new video will be available at the LGBT History Month Featured Videos website.   This series will highlight famous figures and will also introduce some that may not be as well known to the public.

Interested in creating an affirming environment for LGBT members of the Ithaca College community in the classroom? Try the tip sheets "Easy Ways to Be Inclusive of LGBT Themes in the Classroom" - a series of resources promoting LGBT inclusion on campus.

If you are contemplating coming out as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person, resources are available by contacting the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, and Services.

Online resources are also available:

• Resource Guide to Coming Out for African Americans
• Guía de Recursos Para Salir Del Clóset
• Coming Out Issues for Asian Pacific Americans
• Resource Guide to Coming Out
• Coming Out as Bisexual
• Coming Out as Transgender
• Coming Out as a Straight Ally
• A Straight Guide to GLBT Americans
• Living Openly in Your Place of Worship

The annual observance of National Coming Out Day was conceived of shortly after the second march on Washington for gay and lesbian equality on October 11, 1987.