This week commemorates all of the people who have decided to come out or identify with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community. 

“This is really the week to be proud, and for some folks, this is where they finally come out of the closet,” Queer* Graduate Student Association chair and LGBT Student Services Center graduate volunteer Dan Carney said.  

Coming Out Week at Iowa State leads to National Coming Out Day, which has been celebrated Oct. 11 for nearly 30 years.

Nearly 600,000 people on that date in 1987 joined the March on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. The march made themselves visible to not only those in Washington, but to the world.

Brad Freihoefer, director of the LGBT Student Services Center, said the center’s staff also works to ensure that people who identify outside the lesbian, gay and bisexual spectrum are included in the Coming Out Week events.

“There are certain nuances in the coming out process for trans students that we want to keep in mind,” Freihoefer said. “Our staff [is] aware when we talk with students about those things, and [we include] those in the planning process.”

Several LGBTQ groups on campus will host events open to the ISU community during the week.

The LGBT Faculty and Staff Association (LGBT FSA) will host brown-bag talks, or bring your own lunch, from 12 to 1 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in 1737 Lagomarcino Hall.

Nicci Port, chair of LGBT FSA, said these meetings are a great opportunity for faculty and staff to get involved with the organization.

“The whole membership of the FSA is invited to come to the lunch and hear about the things that we’ve done in the last year,” Port said. “We [also] want to talk to them about open leadership positions that we have. So we’re kind of using it as, come out, and then become a leader … don’t just become a member.”

Pride Summit, the collection of all of the LGBTQ student groups, LGBT FSA and the LGBT Student Services Center will host a Coming Out Week kickoff event from 4:30 to 6:15 p.m. Tuesday in room 185 of State Gym.

The first part of the event, from 4:15 to 5:00 p.m., allows students to speak with representatives from the different LGBT groups on campus and learn about their unique missions.

Members of a panel will tell their coming out stories and then take questions from 5 to 6:15 p.m. Carney said students with less “politically correct” questions can take this opportunity to ask any question they want without offending the panelists.

Three additional organizations on campus will host Coming Out Week events Wednesday.

The LGBT Student Services Center will facilitate its regular Safe Zone 101 training from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., which is open to faculty, staff and graduate students.

The training will consist of education about LGBT issues and scenario-based examples for participants to work through. Registration is open until Tuesday through the LGBT Student Services Center’s website.

Gamma Rho Lambda will host an informational session, “The Rest of the Alphabet: Genderqueer” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in 232 Carver. This event continues its “Rest of the Alphabet” series about gender and sexual identities.

The LGBTA Alliance will have its annual Coming Out Week-themed meeting from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in 268 Carver, where participants can share their coming out stories in a safe and confidential environment.

“There’s something special about being in a room with other LGBTIAQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual and queer) folks because that’s sometimes an opportunity you don’t always have,” Carney said. “You might feel as though you’re the only person who identifies that [way] in your lecture hall of 400 people, and to find out that you’re not alone is, I think, the best feeling for students.”

The Workspace at the Memorial Union will facilitate a rainbow necklace craft activity from Monday to Sunday. The ISU community can walk in during the Workspace’s open hours during the week to participate.

Freihoefer said the goal of the week, highlighted by the kickoff, is to increase awareness about what coming out is and why some people might feel more comfortable coming out than others.

“We hope that the week brings awareness to [the coming out] journey, which is why we’re doing some of the events like the panel, to give some real-deal experiences,” Freihoefer said.

More information about ISU Coming Out Week events can be found online on the LGBT Student Services Center and Pride Summit calendars.