LGBT activists brought a closet to the central square of Yaroslavl on the Coming Out Day

On October 11, five activists of the LGBT community "Callisto" brought a "coming out closet" to the central square of Yaroslavl. With this action, they celebrated the International Coming Out Day.

According to their idea, everyone could "come out" of the closet, take pictures and speak out on social networks.

"The action was supposed to draw public attention to this phenomenon and to show LGBT people and their families that there is nothing wrong with that," the activists of "Callisto" told "7x7". "A coming out is the right of every person to make a statement, and for this he should not be subjected to violence and discrimination. For the first time, the concept of a coming out was put forward in 1869 by German lawyer, journalist and minority advocate Karl Heinrich Ulrichs as a kind of concept of emancipation. He believed that the secretive existence of minorities reduced the possibility of their influence on public opinion, and therefore urged homosexuals to become more visible, making a coming out."

The activists explained that they chose Sovetskaya Square for their action not because of the proximity of administrative institutions, but because many people visit it.

The first mass Coming Out Day took place on October 11, 1987. Then about 500 thousand people marched through the streets of Washington (USA) with a march in defense of the rights of gays and lesbians. In modern realities, the term "coming out" acquires a new meaning not only in the context of the LGBT movement, but for telling about anything that a person wants to open to the world. For example, on October 11, Syktyvkar activists held a "March of Personalities" with the slogans "I live in Russia, and I am not afraid", "I want to dance", "I sometimes write poetry."

Earlier, the LGBT community "Callisto" held a rally in memory of killed transgender people in Yaroslavl and organized educational events.

Daniil Kuznetsov, "7x7"

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