the irritation + the immunity of invisibility
national coming out day is october 11th, but for many it's every day
This Wednesday, October 11th, is National Coming Out day in the U.S. I prefer to call it National Inviting In day. Like many in the LGBTQIA+ community, I favor this phrase simply because “coming out of the closet” panders to assumptions of heteronormativity. Heteronormativity is a concept that subscribes to the antiquated gender binary and posits heterosexuality as the “preferred or normal” mode of sexual orientation. On top of that, our cultural habit has been to assume everyone is straight until they prove otherwise - which is a quick way to define compulsory heterosexuality - or comphet. This is why straight people don’t ever have to “come out.” (But, if they did, it could look like this. 😂)
By saying “coming out,” we continue to accentuate the otherness of being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, instead of normalizing it. The idea of “coming out” also places the responsibility on the queer person to correct wrongful inferences about sexual and gender identities. (I’m using the term…