Let’s Celebrate National Coming Out Day 2022
What is National Coming Out Day?
National Coming Out Day (NCOD) has been celebrated on the 11th of October every year since 1987 and this year is no different. This day is dedicated to all individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or any other sexual minority and acts as a symbol of solidarity and support. Its philosophy is to treat everyone with the dignity we all deserve and to work towards eliminating stereotypes and fears about the community by spreading awareness.
No one should ever be compelled to come out if they don’t wish to. This day only aims to lend a voice to those who are comfortable with their identity and hopes to be open about it. The underlying belief behind creating NCOD was that shame and bigotries like homophobia thrive in silence. Once you voice your true identity, you take charge of the narrative.
Being a member of LGBTQIA+ isn’t some thing you need be ashamed or embarrassed about, it’s your truth and you should live it! Matador Meggings gives you the power to flaunt your identity!
Importance for the community
National Coming Out Day is a significant day for numerous members of the LGBTQIA+ community because this day represents the acknowledgment of non-heterosexual individuals as equal citizens in the United States and is a celebration of their spirit of being true to their being by the whole nation. Coming out is being open about oneself and one’s identity to your family, friends, colleagues, or the entire world. Openly identifying yourself is a massive leap of faith and a significant action forward for many within the non-heterosexual community.
Coming out can be a joyous occasion when met with acceptance and love. For many, it can be a traumatic event that can isolate them from their family and social circles. For some, coming out brings with it real pitfalls. It can be ostracization from family, losing jobs, public humiliation, abuse, physical assault, or sometimes, felonious execution in certain countries. Celebrating this day encourages us to consider all forms of coming out, to make a world where coming out is a joyous occasion for everyone.
Emotional aspects
The act of coming out involves an arduous process of knowing oneself deeply and acknowledging oneself first about who they are. Sometimes, it takes decades, and it’s a struggle in itself. Many have given up during this struggle; for those who have made it through, our society has welcomed narratives of sin and shame. This has devalued the courage they mustered to come out.
NCOD is one of the first steps this nation took towards making amends for centuries of discrimination and mistreatment that the LGBTQIA+ community has had to go through in our society. Who can forget the cruel vilification of non-heterosexuals by most of the world during the AIDS epidemic in the 80s?
The world has become progressive in the last 35 years, but the fact that gay marriage was illegal in the US until 2015 is shocking. Activism and the internet have played an enormous role in educating people and uniting the community to spread awareness and influence policies. This day is a sincere encouragement for anyone who feels stifled from expressing themselves freely because of normative notions of sexuality. It is also a day for others to accept people for who they are and how they want to be perceived.
Taking care of your own
Meggings was envisioned to liberate men from pre-conceived societal expectations regarding clothing. It’s an LGBTQIA+-owned and operated business. Valentine Aseyo, the founder, is a yoga instructor and an active entrepreneur in the community. He wants the brand to always be there to support and praise efforts made by the community in dismantling traditional gender roles. He has re-imagined athleisure wear for the male anatomy to aid the movement in his way.
Comfortable and trendy men’s compression leggings and tights are getting normalized gradually now that heterosexuals are getting comfortable in body-hugging high-performance fitness wear like meggings more and more. The stigma is beginning to fade, and our gaze as a society is changing, but there’s still a long way to go.
Return gift to the community
As a salute to all those still fighting for their identity today and encouraging their spirit of liberation, our brand has launched their Pride Collection with designs explicitly made with the LGBTQIA+ community in mind as the inspiration. The whole line of products, from meggings and compression shorts to tank tops, is meant to promote diversity in the athleisure industry. Vibrant meggings designs with butterflies and zigzag prints with colorful pride t-shirts to match them have been embraced by the community, with many more offerings in the near future. The founder sees it as a return gift from the company to the entire community for their courage and undying spirit to live their truth.
Conclusion
If you’re not part of the community, you should celebrate too. This is your chance to show empathy for your children and grandchildren. You can be subjected to the treatment if you don’t. It’s reaffirming to extend your allyship so you become a part of the change and leave the world a better place.
Many people in the community no longer feel the need to come out. It can simply be a case of correcting people’s assumptions or being who you want to be open to without explaining. This luxury exists only for a small section of society, though. So, we must celebrate NCOD until no one needs to come out, or the day when coming out bears no threat to anybody. While encouraging everyone to celebrate National Coming Out Day with our brand and emphasizing the importance of choice, Valentine says:
“It’s time to break down the brick walls society has put up, or paint it with rainbow colors and be your true self.”
