Complicated Time for Coming Out Day

Monday is National Coming Out Day, and this year's call for the closet door to be kicked open comes at a complicated time for gay people.

A spate of teenage LGBT suicides has dominated the news, and just this weekend a horrific attack on a gay man in the Bronx landed on the front page of The New York Times. As the midterm election nears, the issues of marriage equality and gay rights have entered the national discussion -- New York's Republican candidate for governor called gay pride celebrations "disgusting" on the Today show, on the same day as National Coming Out Day.

The recent news may be encouraging more gay people to proudly declare their sexual orientation. The Human Rights Campaign originated National Coming Out Day, and the advocacy group is allowing people to donate their Facebook statuses to coming out -- The Washington Post reports that people are donating their statuses so quickly "that it's crashing the HRC application that helps them do it."

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