Many schools and organizations across the nation are busy preparing for one of the most important days in the gay community, National Coming Out Day.

At Simpson, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transvestite Questioning Awareness has been active in its preparations as well.

National Coming Out Day is day that has been set aside to observe or recognize those individuals who still feel the pressure to remain in the closet due to circumstantial reasons, according to Cory Pfister, LGBTQA president.

Coming out is a process that produces various consequences varying from person to person. Those consequences are influenced by how much a person knows about the gay community. To some people, coming out can be a very traumatic experience because of the fear of not being accepted by family, friends and community.

“My coming out experience was a gradual one. It didn’t happen all at once because I needed to put together all the little pieces and get comfortable with myself before telling everyone else,” Pfister said.

LGBTQA takes this day seriously, and will kick off its recognition of it with the showing of a powerful movie. Tomorrow night there will be back-to-back showings of “The Laramie Project” in Camp Lounge beginning at 7 p.m..

“We decided to show ‘The Laramie Project’ in honor of Matthew Shepard who was a victim of gay bashing in Laramie, Wyoming on Oct. 12, 1998,” Pfister said.

The movie is about Shepard’s student life and the events that led to his death. LGBTQA has worked in conjunction with Stormy Nights to bring this tragic movie to the Simpson community.

Also, members of LGBTQA will be in Brenton Student Center on Friday passing out Rainbow Ribbons and Safe Person triangles to those who want to show support to the gay and lesbian community of Simpson College. There also will be related literature and magazines on display for everyone to access.

A few students on the Simpson Campus have reported being victims of hate crimes. It is because of such incidents that LGBTQA decided to take a step and let it be known to the gay community at Simpson College that support is available.

LGBTQA hopes to educate students to help them be more accepting of each other and to encourage the Simpson community to be a safe environment for all its students.

LGBTQA invites every member of the Simpson Community to recognize National Coming Out day and show support to the gay and lesbian community.

For people with questions about this day, go to the LGBTQA booth in BSC on Friday or attend the Thursday meetings at 5 p.m. in the Senate Room.