In constant search of new ways to highlight campus diversity, Stephen F. Austin State University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs has added a new event to its fall semester slate that will celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.
In honor of National Coming Out Day, which takes place Friday, Oct. 11, the OMA will host a “celebration to promote LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion and raise awareness about the community to SFA and Nacogdoches residents,” according to Tegan Mingo, OMA student ambassador.
In partnership with the Lumberjack Multicultural Association, SFA’s Residence Life Department and Pride Nac, OMA’s celebration will provide food and entertainment while educating the community about accessible health services, safe spaces and more.
The national event began Oct. 11, 1988, exactly one year after half a million people participated in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, according to the Human Rights Campaign website.
“National Coming Out Day is an annual LGBTQ+ awareness day that allows individuals to have the space and opportunity to come out, if they so choose,” Mingo said. “Locally, this event will be of significance because we are in a rural, conservative city and can promote inclusiveness so that the LGBTQ+ community feels welcomed and can be themselves in Nacogdoches. Celebrating this day shows we are allies and fully support the LGBTQ+ community.”
The free, public event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 11, at SFA’s Ag Pond. It will include a picnic, yard games, group activities, and an educational segment covering health issues, labels and history about the LGBTQ+ community.
For more information about OMA’s slate of fall events, visit sfasu.edu/oma.
By Christine Broussard, editorial marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University.
