ON COMING OUT: COURAGE V S. COWARDICE STATEWIDE Edition

• Published in: The Hartford courant
• Main Authors: Reyna, Bessy, Bessy Reyna is a free-lance writer whose column appears monthly. To leave her a comment in English or Spanish, call 860-241-3165. Or e-mail her at bessy_reyna@hotmail.com
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hartford, Conn Tribune Publishing Company, LLC 20.10.2006
• Subjects: Bush, George (President); Eichberg, Rob; Foley, Mark; O Leary, Jean; Serrano, Pedro Julio
• ISSN: 1047-4153

Oct. 11, 1987, when half a million people marched on Washington for lesbian and gay rights, has become synonymous with the struggle for gay rights in the United States. After the success of that march, gay activists Jean O'Leary and Rob Eichberg got together with members of several gay civil rights groups in Manassas, Va., to encourage gay people to "come out of the closet." National Coming Out Day, founded in 1988, is now celebrated all over the nation and in other countries. [Pedro Julio Serrano] was the first openly gay political candidate to run for a seat in the House of Representatives in Puerto Rico in 1998. Despite a campaign against him of lies and threats that made him fear for his life, Serrano did not drop out of the race. His experience as a political candidate motivated him to create the pro-gay organization "Puerto Rico Para Todos." I am sorry that it took a scandal for Mr. [Mark Foley] to finally admit what had been known in political circles for more than 10 years. According to an article in Newsweek magazine, when asked in a 1994 radio interview in if he was gay, Foley replied that he had a girlfriend.