Today is National Coming Out Day! I had to share this Keith Haring illustration for the first National Coming Out Day in 1988 because I relate so hard to this little yellow dude just wigglin' their way out of the closet.

I've come out as bisexual, queer, asexual, bi again, as a demigirl, nonbinary, trans, and probably a few other things. Coming out is an ongoing daily reality for LGBTQ+ people since cisheteronormativity is PERVASIVE. Do me a favour and don't assume everyone you meet is straight and cis.

Also, coming out isn't even exclusive to queer people! I frequently have to come out as disabled since people assume I'm not when they first meet me. I've also read* that many mixed-race people who pass for white have to "come out" as mixed-race or not white.

I'm sure this applies to lots of other people and situations!

So on this National Coming Out Day, I'm happy to once again come out proudly as all the words I use to describe myself: nonbinary, trans, genderqueer, genderfluid, maverique, bisexual, queer, gay, disabled, and chronically ill.

*My Body, My Closet: Invisible Disability and the Limits of Coming Out by Ellen Samuels, The Disability Studies Reader, ed. Lennard J. Davis