On the LGBT Network's 16th Annual National Coming Out Day, Be One of Thousands Who #WearTheRibbon
READ TIME: 3 MIN.
On Wednesday, October 11, join more than 100,000 business leaders, teachers and students, parents and families, faith leaders, elected officials, and other members of the community for the LGBT Network's 16th annual National Coming Out Day (NCOD) Awareness Campaign.
The LGBT Network's NCOD Campaign is a�one-day campaign that engages communities to take a stand against the discrimination, violence, harassment, and bullying of LGBT people by coming out in support of safe spaces where they LIVE, LEARN, WORK, PLAY, and PRAY.
HOW DOES THE CAMPAIGN WORK?
People participate in the campaign by wearing�a rainbow ribbon, a symbol of LGBT pride and history, as a way to visually "come out" in support of safe spaces for LGBT people.
You register and sign-up your institution or organization. You can run the campaign in your office, a house of worship, your library, a school or college, a senior center, non-profit organization, union, government agency, gyms, civic associations, or any other organization -- anywhere! Sign-up and register at www.WearTheRibbon.org.
Sign the LGBT Safe Space pledge! Sign the pledge at www.WearTheRibbon.org to commit your support to creating safer spaces for LGBT people where they live, learn, work, play, and pray.
GET INVOLVED AND TAKE ACTION TODAY
SIGN-UP AND REGISTER: Sign-up and register your institution, organization, or school!� We'll send you a your own National Coming Out Day Campaign Organizing Kit, which includes:
o Rainbow ribbons and safety pins so that people in your organization can participate
o "Ally" stickers
o 18 x 24 full-color campaign posters to display (see thumbnails below)
o 4 x 6 information cards to distribute
o Organizing Manual that provides tips and suggestions about implementing and running the campaign to make it the best that it can be
Why safe spaces are important to:
LIVE: Only 20% of LGBT seniors in long-term care facilities felt safe being open about their identities.
LEARN: Over 85% of LGBT students report verbal harassment in school.
WORK: Nearly 2/3 of LGBT employees have heard anti-LGBT comments at work.
PLAY: LGBT student athletes experience twice the amount of hostility and exclusionary conduct as their peers.
PRAY: 4/5 LGBT adults regard major faith groups as "unfriendly" to their community.
REQUEST A CAMPAIGN TRAINING
LGBT Network staff will visit you and your team to introduce the campaign, discuss best practices, and help you get started.
Since 2002, the LGBT Network has been organizing its National Coming Out Day Awareness Campaign. For 15 years, it has been implemented in schools as a way of creating safer spaces, with growing success every year. For 2017, the campaign's 16th year, the LGBT Network is scaling its efforts and bringing its successful campaign to other institutions with one goal in mind: Create safe spaces for LGBT people where they live, learn, work, play, and pray.
As such, the LGBT Network is embarking on its greatest community organizing effort ever in its 24-year history. "This campaign embodies the ethos and community organizing framework that has set the LGBT Network apart for 24 years," says LGBT Network founder, President and CEO David Kilmnick.�"The LGBT Network is a home and a voice for the LGBT community. We help and support LGBT people, while simultaneously working to address the discrimination, violence, harassment, and bullying that LGBT people face daily. We aim to engage everyone -- not just LGBT people -- so that we can build awareness throughout the community to create businesses, schools, living centers, athletic programs, places of worship, libraries, and other institutions that are space spaces for LGBT people."
