A word on Coming Out Day

10/11/2013 06:40:00 PM
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Some Cornell buddies told be that national Coming Out day was two days ago. A different friend of mine said he thought it was in April. Yet most of the internet seems to feel that it is today. No matter, in my humble opinion, any day is coming out day.

Over at The Incidental Economist, Bill Gardner has a short post highlighting some of the troubles that "coming out" (or lack thereof) causes for healthcare researchers studying any of a number of LGBT health issues. A lot of LGBT folk live in the closet or in denial, unwilling even to tell anonymous public health surveys about who they really are.

In keeping with a long tradition of bloggers offering coming out advice on coming out day, here's my two cents: When you're in the closet, you get the false impression that people would care if you are gay. Upworthy reminds us what it's like for some LGBT people. But for the vast majority of your friends and family, they don't care. They really don't. They'll love you more for your honesty, but won't care whether you're gay, straight, bi, man, woman, or whatever.

Veering back into health economics, here's one person you should come out to this coming out day: your doctor.