Yesterday's National Coming Out Day march down Locust Walk gave students a chance to wear their pride on their sleeves - literally.
Participants donned pink attire and held hands with members of the same sex as they marched down the Walk at noon, starting near Huntsman Hall and ending at the Love statue on College Green.
National Coming Out Day takes place in cities and on college campuses throughout the nation every Oct. 11. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, an organization that works for gay rights, has sponsored the event since its inception in 1987.
The day is meant to celebrate and support those who have already come out and those still struggling to do so, according to Bob Schoenberg, director of Penn's LGBT Center.
"Coming out is not something you do only once. It's a continual process," Schoenberg said.
College junior Cynthia Wright, who came out last March, said she considered doing so on National Coming Out Day but that "for me it was better to come out when I was ready to."
Wright added that many people use the day as an opportunity to come out to family members. She said that she planned to call her aunt and uncle yesterday evening to come out to them.
Finding the strength it takes to come out, she said, can come from a strong showing of support for gays on National Coming Out Day.
The events of Coming Out Day in 2001 at Penn inspired gay leaders on campus to ask same-sex couples to walk hand-in-hand yesterday.
On that day five years ago, two male students, who were not dating each other, decided to spend the afternoon holding hands in public places on campus. A reporter from The Daily Pennsylvanian trailed them, gauging campus reaction.
"An older woman's jaw visibly dropped," the DP wrote at the time. "Three girls halted a conversation about the coming fall break to stare, and one male grad student did a complete 180-degree turn."
Leaders hoped that trying the idea again this year on a larger scale would demonstrate how much progress LGBT groups have made on campus in the last five years.
As co-chairwoman of the Queer Student Alliance, College senior Alexis Ruby-Howe helped to organize the march and other National Coming Out Day events on Penn's campus. This week also marks the kickoff of the QSA's Heterosexism and Homophobia campaign.
Ruby-Howe, whose pride yesterday showed all the way down to her pink Converse sneakers, said she was overwhelmed by participation in the march, and that reactions ranged from very encouraging to seemingly neutral.
"I did notice a few people do a double-take," Ruby-Howe said, adding that no one seemed completely disgusted or shocked.
Overall, Ruby-Howe said she was pleased with the more unified presence LGBT groups were able to display this year as compared to years past.
Leaders said they chose noon for the event because it's typically one of the busiest and most crowded times of day on campus, and would therefore give them the most visibility.
College freshman Eliza Chute said she is straight, but chose to participate in the march and hand-holding anyway to support the effort.
"It's important to normalize people seeing same-sex couples," Chute said.
