LGBT Center to celebrate homecoming with rally, parade and Sweet 16 tailgate.
The LGBT Center is celebrating coming home by coming out.
In its celebration of National Coming Out Day, the center is emphasizing and taking to the heart the theme of this year’s Homecoming Week, “Bobcat Family Reunion,” Director Delfin Bautista said.
“One of the things we want to focus on Friday is what it means to come out in a family, what does family mean to different people,” Bautista said. “Not all of our experiences within families are the same and … many of us have redefined what family means.”
While National Coming Out Day is not officially until Saturday, the center has a full docket of activities to celebrate Homecoming weekend. Thursday kicked it off with a performance from Harvey Katz, or Athens Boys Choir. Katz will also perform and speak at the rally today.
New Chords on the Block, an a cappella group will also perform at National Coming Out Day rally.
Bautista said having Katz perform will also help be inclusive with an often-overlooked transgender community.
The format will be pretty fluid for the rally, where people will have the opportunity to take the mic and come out — either as a member of the LGBT community or an ally. YouTube clips like Ohio University’s version of “It Gets Better” will be shown to help fill any voids and provide a multimedia aspect to the event. Bautista said that no one is expected or will be forced to come out.
Sarah Jenkins, program coordinator for the LGBT Center and Women’s Center, said coming out in the LGBT community has a somewhat subversive meaning with Homecoming because many members create their own families.
Bautista said it’s important for the center to emphasize the solidarity behind each other.
“A lot of (LGBT) folks here feel isolated,” Bautista said. “Either they came from a community where they felt isolated, where they felt like they were the only one. There are quite a few students who are having challenges with their families currently because they were outed. They came out wanting to create a space where folks know that they’re not alone. There is a community of solidarity with them.”
The weekend will end with the center marching in the Homecoming Parade and a Sweet 16 tailgate in Tailgreat Park, to honor the 16th year that the LGBT Center has been present at OU.
The parade will be open for organizations like Open Doors, PFLAG and F--kRapeCulture to participate with the center.
Erin Fischer, a student worker in the LGBT Center and a Post columnist, is the point person for planning this weekend’s events.
“Anyone is welcome to participate in any of the events,” Fischer said. “It’s all about celebrating together and accepting the members of the family.”
“Supporting people in their coming out journey is really a huge part of uniting as a family and as a campus,” Fischer said. “Nobody should be excluded because of their gender identity or sexual orientation and I hope that really hits home with people.”
Bautista said not only standing with members of the LGBT community, but also the Bobcat family as a whole, is an important demonstration of solidarity in a space where the LGBT community traditionally has not always been welcome.
“Saturday (we’re showing) solidarity just across campus,” Bautista said. “I have no idea any idea the rules of football, but that’s not going to stop me from showing my school pride.”
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