The SDCC World Cultures Program held a Coming Out Day Panel on Oct. 11. Students interviewed transexual lesbian students, Le Tran, Fofie Bashir and Daphne Taylor Garcia, in the event that took place in City College MS building. This gave the audience a chance to help and better connect with the LGBTQ community and gain insight about what the struggles of coming out in public really are.
For many, the festive day to express love towards someone is usually known as Valentine’s Day, but for the general audience of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community, the day to celebrate the introduction of their expression of love is on Oct. 11, also known as Coming Out day.
“Coming out day is a day to celebrate gay pride and self love. A lot of people pick this day to come out to their family and friends,” Political Science student, Ayde Nunez said.
According to the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Magazine, coming out is the process of personally accepting your homosexuality and acknowledging it with the people in your life. Coming out is different for every person and some can experience emotional pain and trauma in the process of disclosing this.
“Coming out is a justice process, but having hope and support from my family and friends love keeps me alive,” Fofie Bashir said.
The interviewees were asked about their past background, the challenges they faced during the process of disclosing the truth to their family members, their experiences and advice they would give to the audience about coming out safely. They all shared the different obstacles they have had ever since they have publicly announced their orientation.
“As a transsexual woman going through the changes in my body before the transition, made me suffer depression and abuse from people that did not accept me. It was not easy to overcome these challenges,” Le Tran said.
The students said that their biggest safety net was the resources that brought their coming out process together with others. Resources such as community groups that meet and help you navigate a in comfortable space without carrying shame, can help you form your own identity as a LGBTQ person. Some of these resources welcome families so that they can have a better understanding of what the person coming out is going through.
“My family always kinda knew that I was not okay with my body but did not want to accept my transition at first. Now in my last birthday they changed my name in front of my whole family,” Tran explains on his passage from female to male.
Each semester The World Cultures Program exposes students to a broad array of media and spokespeople representative of the diversity of beliefs, traditions, and culture around the world. The SDCC website states:
“ … the program’s mission is to increase the understanding, appreciation, and celebration of global human diversity on the SDCC campus and in the world.”
