National Coming Out Day is celebrated every year on the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Every year on October 11, National Coming Out Day emphasizes the importance of coming out and creating a safe world in which LGBTQ people can live openly as their authentic selves.

“This year, more than ever, we are reminded why coming out matters, and why we have to continue to be as visible as possible, even if most of us are still at home,” said Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign. “Now, during a pandemic, we know that it is vitally important for LGBTQ people – especially youth who may be stuck at home in unaccepting environments – to see LGBTQ people publicly and vibrantly living our lives. That’s what coming out means: being visible for those who can not be. And at a time when we cannot gather in person, and continue to be attacked and vilified by the anti-equality Trump-Pence administration, our public existence is resistance.”

Today, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released three updated Coming Out resources: Coming Out as LGB+, Coming Out as Transgender and Non-Binary, and Being an LGBTQ Ally. These resources compliment existing Coming Out resources for Bi+ people, Black LGBTQ people, Latinx LGBTQ people, and API LGBTQ people as well as resources on Coming Out at Work, Coming Out to Your Doctor, and Coming Home to Faith.

In 2012, when some of the first inclusive polling began by Gallup, an estimated 8.4 million adults in the U.S. identified as LGBTQ. Using data from the 2018 General Social Survey, HRC estimates there to be more than 14 million LGBTQ adults in the U.S. This means that the number of adults identifying as LGBTQ in the U.S. increased by 66% from 2012 to 2018. This data clearly shows that more and more people are becoming comfortable identifying openly as LGBTQ.