Petrelis Files

AK Gays Ask Palin for
Coming Out Proclamation

The recently formed gay advocacy group Alaskans Together for Equality, last week agreed at my urging to submit a proclamation request to Gov. Sarah Palin, commemorating National Coming Out Day, which falls on October 11.

After I asked for a writer to volunteer to draft the text, none other than Patricia Nell Warren stepped forward and wrote a proclamation for gay Alaskans to send over to the governor.

Today I spoke with Jessalynn Rintala, Coordinator for Constituent Services, in Palin's Juneau office, and she confirmed receiving the request and proposed text of the proclamation.

I also chatted with Trevor Thomas in the communications department at the Human Rights Campaign, and they are supportive of this effort and in touch with Tim Stallard. As you probably know, National Coming Out Day is a project of HRC.

Let's keep our optimism up and hope Gov. Palin does the right thing, and signs and issues the proclamation.

You can offer encouragement to the gay Alaskans through Tim Stallard. His email is tim@outinalaska.com. And you can send thanks to Patricia Nell Warren at patriciawarren@aol.com .

Here's the very moving text of the proposed proclamation:

WHEREAS, National Coming Out Day is an internationally-observed awareness day for coming out and discussion about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) issues, observed on October 11 by members of the LGBT communities, their families friends and allies,

WHEREAS, National Coming Out Day was founded in 1988 to celebrate the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987, in which 500,000 people marched on our nation's Capital for the purpose of raising awareness of the LGBT community in America,

WHEREAS, National Coming Out Day is an effort to put real human faces on the LGBT rights movement, so that the American people become more aware that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals can be found among their own families, friends, business associates, fellow church-goers, and every other part of American society,

WHEREAS, in every state of the union, the diversity of the American people is mirrored in the LGBT community, members of whom can be found in every faith, ethnic group, profession, in the military and clergy, and every age group from young people to elders,

WHEREAS, coming out has been recognized by many Americans as a vital and often life-saving step for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons, making it possible for them to be fully honest with their families, friends and associates about who they really are,

WHEREAS, coming out is an opportunity for the closeted individual to find dignity, empowerment and self-respect, as well as tolerance and loving support by other human beings, which cannot be found in the loneliness and self-denial of the closet,

WHEREAS, Alaska has its own vibrant LGBT community, which contributes richly to the vigor and diversity of this great state and is active in every area of Alaskan life, from civil rights work and HIV prevention programs, through youth support organizations like PFLAG and churches like the Metropolitan Community Church, as well as publications, businesses, and contributions in the arts,

WHEREAS, Alaska has a tradition of rugged and pioneering individualism, as well as tolerance for those who are different, going back to its earliest days as a territory, and the LGBT community of Alaska are a part of that tradition,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim October 11, 2008 as:

National Coming Out Day

In Alaska, in recognition of the importance of respect for the humanity and dignity of all LGBT Alaskans living among us.

Dated: ------------------, 2008