DeKALB | Today marks the 18th National Coming Out Day, an annual event that gives lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals an opportunity to “come out” about their sexuality.

To celebrate, the LGBT Resource Center will have “Do ask, do tell” stickers available all day at the center on the seventh floor of the Holmes Student Center.

“The stickers are a play on the military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which forces people to remain in the closet,” said Margie Cook, director of the LGBT Resource Center.

The stickers are available to both LGBT people and heterosexual allies, who are encouraged to wear them as a way to promote dialogue about LGBT equality.

Tony Robertson, co-president of Prism, compares the day to a birthday.

“It’s a day of recognition, a day to acknowledge that who you are is important,” Robertson said.

In addition to the stickers, Prism also will host a movie and discussion night at 8:30, showing “Saving Face,” a movie about coming out.

National Coming Out Day is part of LGBT History Month.

“It is an effort to increase awareness about LBGT people in society and their contributions to the world,” Cook said.

Cook said one example of LGBT people being erased from society is Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a principal organizer of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin was a gay man who made the event happen, but very few people know about him, Cook said.

Stephanie Kohl is a Diversity beat reporter for the Northern Star.