National Coming Out Day

Each day, I strive to be more courageous than I was the day before. To be more authentic and, in that spirit, to show up more fully for my family, friends, and colleagues. I feel such gratitude and appreciation for the faculty, staff, families, and trustees at St. Thomas School! We are intentionally creating spaces where we can have brave and important conversations among us so that we can, in turn, create those spaces for our students and their families.

Schools must stand strong and bold in upholding the belief that our students are worthy just the way they are. They don’t need to earn our respect, kindness, or love. They are who they are, and we are here to help them along their journeys and become all that they are meant to be in this world.

Today is #nationalcomingoutday. While its roots go back to the late 1980s, capturing the spirit of both gay and feminist activist and political movements, today the spirit expands to embrace each of our unique journeys. To be clear, there is much work to be done in support of LGBTQA+ acceptance and personal rights and liberties.

And there is much to celebrate! National Coming Out Day is a reminder that we each have our own journey. Unique unto ourselves, and yet all of us desire to show up, and be accepted, in the world fully and authentically.

I am so grateful to this community and its support of my own coming out as a gay man, head of school, and father. That was, and continues to be, a very personal journey. Coming out so publicly was the most profound #edgework I have ever done. And as often happens when we take a brave step forward, I found that I was surrounded by people who were standing quietly beside me, encouraging me from behind, and sometimes walking boldly in front to show me the way forward.

So today, I remind you to be who you are. To celebrate all that you are in this world. To strive to be the best version of yourself.

Happy National Coming Out Day.