“I can’t say I’ve ever seen your kind of beautiful.” These words by Dawn Thomas about her love for another woman ring through Kerckhoff Coffee House as Queer Soul takes place. Water balloons fly across Sunset Rec. during Bar-B-Queer as a large rainbow flag stands proudly in the middle of the event. “Loud and proud!” rings forth from giant speakers at Meyerhoff Park for every soul on Bruinwalk to hear during Speak Out. Six brave individuals share their coming-out stories and personal struggles at the Coming Out Panel. Photographs of influential LGBTQ individuals surround the walls of the Kerckhoff Art Gallery for the entirety of National Coming Out Week, a week-long celebration of out LGBTQ individuals.
But what does it all mean? In the end, are all our efforts affecting anyone? As my mind drifts through memories while I try to answer those questions, a few moments stand out.
Minutes before the beginning of Queer Soul, the open mic night, I noticed one of the performers pacing anxiously. “How long do I have to go up there?” she asked, her voice shaky and timid. But a few minutes later, as she took the mic, you couldn’t have guessed any of that. The voice that came out this time was clear and confident. The rest of the room went silent, completely captured in her words.
Later, at Queer Soul before Dawn Thomas sang “You Level Me,” she shared with all those in attendance that she wrote the song for her wife and sang it to her on their wedding day. She continued, expressing her hopes to take her marriage to the courts next year if Proposition 8 does not pass. The song, soft and personal, moved a crowd of strangers.
Also notable was the “No on Prop 8″ rally at Meyerhoff Park, when Queer Alliance chair Danny Torres said, “I want my gay father and his partner of 15 years to continue to have the option (to marry) if at any point they decide they would like to declare their love for one another to everyone. I want my future niece to be raised in a world where discrimination of the LGBT community is non-existent. I want people to vote no on Proposition 8 so that I can love whoever.”
Lastly, at the Speak Out, one of the speakers said, “Your coming out might encourage someone else to come out.”
Those last words swayed in my mind for a while before I realized: I think who these events affect most are the people we don’t see. Someone sitting in the back row of the event, pretending not to pay attention. Someone who needs the speakers and performers to stand up proudly and show them that no stones will be thrown ““ to show that we should celebrate who we are and never waste a second being ashamed. I guess I ought to know ““ a year ago that would’ve been me.
West is the co-editor of OutWrite and a third-year English student.