By Long Beach State hosts OUTober, a series of events on campus for students and faculty every year.
The CSULB LGBTQ+ Resource Center opened in 1989, and decades later, in October 2006, the university celebrated National Coming Out Day.
Some events that will be held this year include Career Insights for LGBTQ+ Students, Gender Affirming Hair Cuts, Drag Loteria and Flags & Popsicles!.
Alex Cunanan, a first year student at Long Beach State said OUTober allows students to feel safer and welcomed on campus to be themselves.
“If you feel more like yourself, you’re more confident and then you can do other things, do the things that you thought you couldn’t do,” Cunanan said.
Aside from aiming to celebrate and empower the LGBTQ+ community, OUTober aims to also provide opportunities to educate people on how to be allies.
A timeline of Pride Flags from 1978 to 2021, starting from the top right. Graphic credit: El Nicklin
One year ago, I attended an OUTober event called Know Your Rights and learned a lot about LGBTQ+ history, rights, resources and how to demonstrate solidarity.
I highly encourage people who do not identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community to attend informational OUTober events such as the Understanding Cisgender Privilege workshop, which will be held Oct. 10 in the University Student Union.
“I would be interested in learning more about the community and I would definitely encourage other people to look into it or at least have some knowledge of it, because I think it’s still important, even if you’re not part of the community, to understand that part of your community,” Cunanan said.
Acceptance and love are just a couple of the best things we can extend to people.
Some people on campus may come from environments where these traits were seen as conditional, only extended to people who fit into what is considered “normal.”
I was lucky enough to grow up most of my life in Long Beach, a city that I consider to be more progressive than most in celebrating and accepting the LGBTQ+ community.
The first wedding that I ever attended was the wedding of my mother’s gay friends. Their wedding took place six years before same-sex marriage was legalized in California, so it was symbolic in more ways than one.
Thanks to my mother, I grew up understanding the importance of not just respecting but celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.
It has been a painful experience to watch how some politicians are attempting to move our country backward instead of forward in regards to same-sex relationships. Moreover, how people can fight for a right to own guns, yet stand against the right to allow people to be and love who they want, will always be beyond my understanding.
One of my close friends decided to come out to her family as bisexual during her senior year of high school. Her parents, heavily religious, did not support her and accused her of sinning.
Following her family’s harsh reaction, she trusted me enough to come out to me. I immediately embraced her with positivity and support, but, unfortunately, her parent’s berating behavior made her question her relationship with God and whether she could find a way to change who she was.
It took a consistent stream of support and love from her friends for her to finally feel comfortable and proud of who she was.
CSULB’s OUTober reminds people that they should not be ashamed of who they are or who they love. Through group unity we can combat any worries and anxieties and pave a way forward.
