History of National Coming Out Day: 1995: One Sister, A Bulldog and Two Coasts
In 1995, Candace Gingrich (half-sister of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich) become a National Coming Out Project spokesperson and full-time activist. That year, she traveled to 52 cities in six months, delivering the message, "Your brother doesn't have to be speaker of the House for your voice to be heard." The other project spokesperson that year was Dan Butler, who plays the character Bulldog on NBC-TV's Frasier. Butler appeared in broadcast and print public service announcements with the message "I'm not a straight man, but I play one on television." Rock musician Melissa Etheridge did a radio public service announcement, reminding people that "Labels belong on records, not on people." More than 100 radio stations aired Etheridge's message.
National Coming Out Day was celebrated that year on both coasts — at a morning news conference with Butler, Gingrich, Birch and the staff of HRC at the U.S. Capitol, and an evening reception at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center.
Birch, Butler and Gingrich participated in that event as well, along with California Assemblywoman Kuehl, National Coming Out Day co-founder Jean O'Leary, and Frasier co-stars Jane Leeves and Peri Gilpin. The event was bittersweet, however, because co-founder Rob Eichberg had died just two months before.
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| National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, 1995 Top: Wes Combs, then NCOP manager, Candace Gingrich, Dan Butler and Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director, in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Bottom: Then California Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, Frazier stars Jane Leeves and Peri Gilpin join NCOD spokespeople Candace Gingrich and Dan Butler. |