The Sacramento State PRIDE Center is celebrating Queer History Month throughout October, striving to promote awareness and education of the queer community on campus and at large.

Gay Lesbian Bi-Sexual Transgender Month, as it is known nationally, has been recognized every October in countries around the world for nearly 50 years. Today queer communities around the world will commemorate National Coming Out Day, a holiday focused on promoting awareness of GLBT persons living honest and open lives.

National Coming Out Day was established in 1988 by Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary. The day was created to celebrate the second national march in Washington, D.C., the year before, when more than 500,000 people marched for queer rights.

“Whether you’re lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or not, be proud of who you are and your support of LGBT equality,” according to the Human Rights Campaign website.

The Human Rights Campaign is the organization currently responsible for the holiday as part of its National Coming Out Project, designed to promote the fight for queer rights and queer families living openly.

In honor of National Coming Out Day and Queer History month, the PRIDE Center will host a variety of activities today and throughout the month.

Co-coordinator of the PRIDE Center and junior business major Alex Harris said the goal of the month is to show students they can relate to what is going on in the queer community.

“There are, in fact, common interests between us,” she said. “We hope to bridge the gap that divides us and promote and foster an environment of well-being.”

Alysson Satterlund, director of Student Activities and interim director of the PRIDE Center, said the importance of Queer History Month lies in its opportunity to allow students to think critically about stereotypes and for the queer community to be proud of who they are.

“Our goal is to create opportunities where the queer community at Sac State can celebrate their community and educate others who may not be aware of their accomplishments and perspectives,” Satterlund said. “Plus, the importance of association for the queer community can’t be underestimated.”

The Equality Forum has been responsible for hosting GLBT History Month nationally since 2006. The celebration is intended to teach GLBT history, provide inspiring role models and highlight the GLBT community’s extraordinary world-wide contributions.

Each day of the month, the Equality Forum will honor the accomplishments of profound figures in GLBT history. Today for National Coming Out Day, it will highlight the life and accomplishments of American biologist Alfred Kinsey.

“Known as the father of sexology, Alfred Kinsey conducted groundbreaking and controversial research on human sexuality that profoundly influenced social and cultural values,” according to the Equality Forum’s website for GLBT History Month.

According to the website, Kinsey founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University. The institute is now named the Kinsey Institute in his honor and is one of the leading academic centers on human sexuality.

“Queer individuals deserve recognition and celebration of their accomplishments in the community and around the world,” Harris said. “Contributors don’t have to be people like Ellen Degeneres or Rosie O’Donnell. Every individual queer contributor should have their story told.”

In addition to providing education on the accomplishments of members of the queer community, Harris said Queer History Month is a valuable tool to show the diversity of the queer community.

“The queer community can’t be fit into one stereotype,” Harris said. “Events like Guess Who’s Gay will show that.”

The game show-like event, Guess Who’s Gay, will include a panel of 10 people who will answer trivial and personal questions about their lives as the audience tries to guess their sexuality.

Last year, questions ranged from simple to personal topics, including favorite colors, favorite sexual positions and body shaving preferences. Only two of the audience members told The State Hornet they correctly guessed all 10 panelists’ sexuality.

Rachel Pearman, graduate director for Associated Students Inc. and graduate student in education, said the university has a strong mission of diversity and these efforts of PRIDE support that mission.

“I think for years the PRIDE Center has put on events with educational value and entertainment,” Pearman said. “Personally, this is a great opportunity for me to connect with students that identify with members of the queer community.”

Justin Williams, senior recreation and leisure studies major, attended the Coyote Grace concert last Thursday in honor of Queer History Month. Williams said such events are important to all people because they allow them to broaden their perspectives to other ways of living.

“People sometimes forget that there are many different types of people,” Williams said. “You can’t neglect others simply because they aren’t the same as you.”

In addition to the Coyote Grace concert, PRIDE and Unique will host events throughout the month. For more information, contact the PRIDE Center at (916) 278-8720 or by visiting the office on the third floor of the University Union.

Brittany Bottini can be reached at [email protected]