USJ Celebrates National Coming Out Day

Written by Nadia Krill

On Wednesday October 11, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion held an event about the impact of intersectional bias on LGBTQ+ women. Rayna Dyton-White, the USJ Diversity and Equity Coordinator, welcomed attendees into the Crystal Room and offered an array of pride themed items. The speaker for the event was the Equity Coordinator for the Town of West Hartford: Adrienne Billings-Smith. She discussed the struggles and triumphs of coming out as a black woman and her journey of accepting her identity. During her speech she mentioned the misogyny within the LGBTQ+ community and described her personal growth away from it. Additionally, Billings-Smith expressed how everyone’s coming out story is unique due to different social factors that impact individuals within the community.

After Adrienne Billings-Smith’s speech, audience members began to ask questions about coming out and the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality. She explored the idea of gender roles within queer relationships, and how it can be difficult to escape society’s norms, even within relationships outside of the heterosexual normative. Billings-Smith talked about how it can be unsafe to come out in the United States even if society is more accepting than it was in previous generations. It is especially difficult in states that are passing laws to limit and attack the rights of queer people. She discussed how her family moved from Florida to Connecticut because she did not feel safe in her previous community as a black LGBTQ+ individual. This was due to the onslaught of laws that attacked the rights of queer and minority groups. She noted that it is important to remember that there are people in those communities that don’t have the means to flee to safer states and instead have to hide their identity in order to protect themselves. National Coming Out Day isn’t just about the people who are coming out, but also for raising awareness about the people who cannot come out due to their personal situation. Overall, the event was informative and showed the university’s commitment to accepting all people no matter race, gender, or sexuality.