National Coming Out Day arrived this year — and is rapidly ending — at a grim time for gays, lesbians and members of the trans community, amid a spate of teen suicides and conservative political rhetoric that seems more like the 1984 of Ronald Reagan than the 2010 of “Glee,” Anderson Cooper and (possibly) Elena Kagan.
One thing that’s different is the spread of supportive media such as the “It Gets Better” YouTube campaign for teen youth and a local efforts such as the National Coming out day video program co-produced by Cambridge’s GLBT Commission and Cambridge Community Television.
“The recent spate of violence against the GLBT community is an eye-opener for all of us and a reminder of the harsh reality that exists in the real world,” said John Gintell, the commission’s co-chairman. “Our community members are increasingly facing severe threats from their families, friends, schools, neighbors, politicians, religious organizations, workplace and anywhere under the sky. Talking about it is very important, and that is what we as a community tried to do with this project.”
The “We Are Queer, We Are Here” video is available online and, somewhat less conveniently, shows on cable access Channel 10 on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.; Oct. 23 at 8:30 a.m.; and Oct. 27 at 8 a.m.; and on Channel 9 on Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. (It had a showing on Monday for National Coming Out Day at 2 p.m.)
“I hope we can create more such projects in the near future,” Gintell said.
A stronger
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