Coming Out Day, Still in the Closet

On October 11th, National Coming Out Day was recognized in many schools across the country. Sadly, Deerfield was not one of those schools. On October 11th, the GSA was told that there was no time available during school meeting for the day to be commented on or recognized. However, once Mr. Eric Widmer, recipient of this years Heritage award, finished his speech, we were left with free time at the end of school meeting. Dean of Students Mr. Toby Emerson took the stage and practically begged for student announcements. The event has yet to be acknowledged in any subsequent school meetings. Why couldn’t we fit Coming Out Day into the schedule somewhere? Why did we not make sure that such an important day was recognized in our community-oriented campus? As an important day to many people, what kind of message does it send to our community that Coming Out Day has yet to be mentioned? If everyone is always to be respected and welcomed on this campus, why aren’t we showing it?