Litany for National Coming Out Day
Every year Open Table our LGBTQIA+ worship community celebrates National Coming Out Day in their October Communion service.
coming out day logo design by Keith haring
National Coming Out Day is an annual event observed on October 11 in the UK. It started across the pond in 1988 and was birthed from the feminist and gay liberation movement’s belief in the personal being political. The simplest form of activism is for an LGBTQIA+ person come out to family and friends, and live openly i.e. telling our stories. It has long been observed that if people know someone who is LGBT they are less likely to hold prejudicial views. (Reference 1)
Richard Eichberg, one of the founders of National Coming Out Day said in 1993
“Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact, everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes.”
But where did this expression “come out” come from. You may have heard of a debutante’s coming out party? This was a celebration where a young woman from the upper classes makes her debut, her formal presentation to society marking her entrance to adulthood and becoming eligible for marriage. This was seen by queer communities in the early 20th Century as analogous to a person’s introduction in to gay society, their coming out. As historian George Chauncey points out:
“Gay people in the pre-war years [pre-WWI]... did not speak of coming out of what we call the gay closet but rather of coming out into what they called homosexual society or the gay world, a world neither so small, nor so isolated, nor... so hidden as closet implies”.
As part of our celebration we’ll use this wonderful Litany of Coming Out, adapted from Courage to Love: Liturgies for the LGBT Community by Geoffrey Duncan
One:
As Eve and Adam came out of the earth,
as the people of Israel came out of slavery into freedom,
All:
We come out.
One:
As the exiled Israelites came out of Babylon
back to their home,
as the prophets came out of the ordinary
to point to the extraordinary,
All:
We come out.
One:
As Lazarus came out of the tomb to continue his life,
as Jesus came out of death into new life,
All:
We come out.
One:
We come out of our deserts into the garden,
out of the prisons of closets of all sorts
into the light of new life,
All:
We come out.
One:
Out of exile into our homes, out of lies into truth,
out of denial into affirmation,
All:
We come out.
One:
We name ourselves as God’s beloved:
transgender and cisgender, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, and straight children! Each brought out of ourselves to reveal God’s love to the world as saints of the Church.
All:
Blessed be the God who has made us!
Blessed be the God who continues to call us
further and further out!