Our college years are arguably the most defining time of our lives. We build lasting friendships, gain valuable experience and learn how to survive the world on our own. We come from different backgrounds with a common goal of learning, growing and, one day, graduating.

Though college is portrayed as an almost magical place where we can, at last, be ourselves and find the niche that is a perfect fit, the sad truth is that college can be one of the roughest places to live an authentic life.

Today marks National Coming Out Day, a time where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, along with allies, come together with one simple, powerful message — it’s OK to be you.

As simplistic as that message may seem, it can literally be life-altering for LGBT students and allies.

In the past month, we have seen an alarming rate of student suicides, such as Tyler Clementi of Rutgers University, and five others. All six students were victims of bullying and harassment for being gay or thought to be gay.

With these tragedies, it’s time to start asking ourselves some questions.

What if each of these young people had someone in their life that said, “It’s OK to be you, and it gets better?”

Could the parents and friends of these young people have been spared this sadness if we stopped thinking of LGBT people as sinners and freaks and started seeing them for what they are — brothers and sisters, colleagues and friends, family and neighbors?

Today, in light of the numerous suicides and reports of violence against gay people, this Editorial Board believes it has never been more important to live an authentic life.

To us, that means being ourselves and doing everything in our power to help others be proud of who they are.

Today, on National Coming Out Day, we encourage you to be proud of who you are — no matter what your sexual orientation may be.

Further, for the sake of lives hanging in the balance, it is time for us to realize that we all played a role in the death of Tyler Clementi, Raymond Chase, Asher Brown, Billy Lucas and Seth Walsh.

Whether we make gay jokes, support discriminatory policies such as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” are ashamed of being gay ourselves, or don’t speak out when we see others being bullied, we all play a part in the “closet culture” that is contaminating our communities and taking the lives of our friends.

But the silver lining is that we each have the power to create change and end the “closet culture” that depends on fear, hate and ignorance to keep LGBT people from living an authentic life.

It is time for us to give LGBT people, who fear for their lives and safety, the hope they need.

Our charge can be taken from Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, who said, “Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.”

Today, we must fight in order to give others hope.