History of National Coming Out Day: 1998: Happy Anniversary to NCOD
The following year, 1998, was National Coming Out Day's 10th anniversary. The project’s public service campaign focused on the image of a birthday cake decorated with the Keith Haring artwork. The 10th anniversary was featured that year as a cover story in the HRC Quarterly. Because this was also an election year, the coming out message emphasized that the GLBT community cannot achieve equality from the closet and encouraged political involvement.
HRC hosted National Coming Out Day festivities in San Francisco, beginning with a black-tie dinner Oct. 10, which featured emcee Joan Rivers. Since Oct. 11 fell on a Sunday that year, there was a morning interdenominational service held to reaffirm the support people of faith have for honesty and equality. HRC's official NCOD event was held in San Francisco's Delores Park and featured a who’s who of openly gay and supportive politicians, actors and activists, including Patrick Bristow (formerly of the Ellen TV show), Dan Butler, San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, longtime activist Donna Red Wing, Betty DeGeneres, emcee Candace Gingrich andMayor Willie Brown. That year, HRC produced a Spanish translation of the Resource Guide to Coming Out, including a foreword by the "Latina Oprah," Univision TV talk show host Christina Seralegui.
   |
| (l to r): Oct. 11, 1998, National Coming Out Day's 10th anniversary celebrated in San Francisco's Delores Park by NCOD spokespeople Dan Butler and Betty DeGeneres, and Mark Leno, San Francisco Board of Supervisor member. [Photos by: Charlotte Fiorito, Fiorito and Liz Zivic.] |