National Coming Out Day!

If you are part of the LGBT community, or know someone who is you may have heard the term 'Coming Out', it's a cover all term used when someone shares their story about the first time they told someone they were gay / homosexual / lesbian.

We shared a post back in 2012 that shared both our Coming Out stories, you can find it here.

For anyone who has followed us since the start you will know that my (Sarah) coming out story was not a happy one. If anything my story is a great example of 'it get's better', here's a post I shared at the time about how far things have come.

We even shared how we came out at work way back before it was 'okay' to be gay. Laura's story is here.

So why is there an official coming out day? Well that's simple, it is to mark coming out as a positive celebration. The date was selected as it is the annual march on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights.

Founded because 'Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes.

– Robert Eichberg, in 1993

It was started in 1988 so this year marks 30 years (another great thing that joined the world 30 years ago....ahem Laura).

What makes for interesting reading is that 20% of millennials identify as LGBTQ+ so sharing stories of support from others coming out gives that community reassurance and insight into coming out. It also mean having online points of reference is essential.

Over the years of writing this blog we have seen acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community increase and as we have traveled through our personal journey we have experienced different situations where we have had to 'come out' but overall we have received love, kindness and plenty of questions from interested people. We hope others have had a similar experiences.

Happy National Coming Day!