Celebrating Coming Out Day

Raiders are "Letting it Show"
By Dwayne Codding

A typical Tuesday in Southwest High, students minded their own business, heading out for lunch as usual. To their surprise though, things seemed rather odd as they passed by the gym where an event seemed to be taking place.“There was music,” remembers fellow Raider Sergio Vargas, “a door asking to be opened...Once opened, a Limbo obstacle appeared and I just had to pass it and know whether I was able to... or not”

Out in the open, standing on a frame alone, was a door, labeled as “The Closet”. A sound system was set up behind it playing an assortment of tunes. In front of the door, people held a pole midair prepared for Limbo for anyone interested in participating. A crowd gathered to observe, discovering GSA was hosting a national event called “Coming Out Day”.

Basically students were being encouraged by the club to simply walk through the door, and limbo past the pole in order to win free rainbow ribbons.

Out in front Marie Johnson held the microphone, inviting everyone to join in the action and motivating the crowd to participate. “We're just asking you to go through a door.” Marie would say, “Nothing hard there, you do it everyday when you leave home, and here we're giving you free ribbons to walk through a door. Now tell me if that isn't awesome!”

The event had a slow start, being started off by members of the club before others felt comfortable enough to participate. Soon Raiders joined in the action, going through the door alone or in groups, soon it seemed like everyone was going through the door and having a good time. A Limbo competition took place, and the winners that got lower than Carpizo won free bracelets.
“It was an ingenious event!” said Sergio, “it was far more interactive than any of the other events at school thus far”

Many seem to agree the event was a great success for the most part. But some criticisms still arise, even from club members.

“Our DJ's were terrible,” admitted Anaiz Alegria, Vice President of the GSA, “partly because we had a new one at least every couple of minutes and partly because there was a new song every 30 seconds. The microphone was being hogged by someone that might possibly have been scaring the potential volunteers away. The limbo part was not the way I was hoping it would be. It turned out to be a go-through-the-door-and underneath-the-stick thing. The contest was not even a contest. At least not in my definition. So to me, it was a let down. But luckily I noticed how some people were in fact enjoying the event. It looked like half of the people there enjoyed it. The students volunteering looked like they were having a good time. So yay!”

“I think it turned out nice.” said Arely Sanchez, another GSA member, “When I really think about it, students are nice in our school; at least they let us do what we had to do. We didn't have to worry about any bad attitudes or discrimination. Like I'm sure other schools can be more religious or conservative and might have students whom wouldn't just sit down and let us have it. They would complain or bully students. Overall though i think the event was something simple and nice.”

In short, the day was a pleasant break from the routine day to day lives of raiders here on campus. After being asked what he thought about the event, Sergio responded, “I would just say that I feel sorry for anyone who didn't participate in the event and did not live the thrill of going through a door and Limbo-ing in front of other students”

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE EVENT? Speak out and make your opinion heard.