October is LGBTQ History Month, full of special days to make our communities more whole. October 11 is the 30th National Coming Out Day, founded on the first anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for LGBTQ Rights that was held in the midst of the worst days of the AIDS crisis.
October 17 is International Pronouns Day to underscore that people — especially those who are gender non-conforming people — should be respected for the pronouns by which they prefer to be identified.
October 18 is Spirit Day, where we are called on to wear purple in solidarity with LGBTQ youth and against bullying, especially in schools.
October 19 is LGBTQ Center Awareness Day created by Center Link at lgbtc
And October 28 is the ninth anniversary of the signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act, when we had a president who cared about fighting bias crime.
Shepard died 20 years ago, on October 12, 1998.
