Coming Out Day is officially recognized in a major US city for the first time

Los Angeles is expected to become the first major U.S. city to officially recognize October 11 as National Coming Out Day.

On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council will vote to pass a resolution declaring the city holiday at a ceremony featuring famous and historic LGBTQ figures from the area.

“We need to come together because there are so many people who want to push us back,” said PJ Brescia, founder of local LGBTQ advocacy group BabyGay, in an interview with ABC News. “We really need to support each other when it comes to where we are as a country. We are far from equal rights in this country.”

The official designation of the holiday comes as the country faces a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The ACLU tracked more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures during the 2024 legislative session.

“Even in California, which is widely considered a very, very liberal state, we are seeing real incidents of anti-gay, anti-queer and anti-trans rhetoric, which is very surprising,” said Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman . “We want to make sure that we have spaces where people feel accepted and safe, and I think this is a really worrying moment for us.”

National Coming Out Day was created in 1988 by LGBTQ+ activists Jean O'Leary and Robert Eichberg and marked the first anniversary of the National Lesbian and Gay Rights March on Washington in 1987 at the start of the AIDS epidemic.

Throughout the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Los Angeles has been the site of several historic moments, including the founding of The Black Cat, a gay bar that first opened its doors in 1966, at a time when same-sex relationships were criminalized in California.

Shortly after opening, the venue and its clientele were caught in a violent police crackdown on New Year's Eve, prompting hundreds to protest in the days following anti-LGBTQ+ violence and discrimination. This establishment and its history predate New York's legendary Stonewall Uprising and are often held up as a symbol of progress in the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights, bar co-owner Lindsay Kennedy told ABC News.

The bar was later renamed and passed through several owners before Kennedy described the establishment as a “historic gift.”

“We decided immediately to dedicate ourselves to enhancing this gift that has been given to us,” Kennedy told ABC News.

In 2022, the bar was finally declared a California Historical Landmark.

“And the first step to that was actually renaming it Black Cat,” Kennedy said. “It hadn't been the Black Cat since 1967, so this was the first step to say, 'Hey, we're here. And if you know what that name means, come and talk to us.'”

Los Angeles was also the birthplace of a new era of activism. Brescia, who came out in adulthood, said she was burdened with shame and loneliness on her journey to coming out and found it difficult to process this new phase.

They said they turned their diaries from that time in their lives into a short film called “BabyGay,” which would become the catalyst for the arts-based community-building nonprofit that BabyGay has since become.

“I’m not the only one who has felt so alone in this process,” Brescia said. “This is a movement. The goal from the start is: Let's create a space of welcome, judgment and freedom where all people in the queer community and their allies can come together and support each other through the coming out process, to ask freely. “Those awkward questions that no one walks you through.”

This year's Coming Out Day celebration will feature comedians like Margret Cho and Allison Reese, drag queen Lauren Banall and singers like Grant Knoche, Tori Kay and more.