October 11, 2014 was National Coming Out Day, a day observed to raise awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and asexual (LGBTQA) community.

In light of this day, the Diablo Valley College Queer-Straight Alliance held its first brown-bag workshop of the semester. Brown-bag workshops, for those curious but uncommitted to Googling the term, are hour-long, informational workshops held throughout the fall and spring semesters that cover topics from health care to school services.

There were a handful of students in attendance, the majority of whom lined the back wall.

Lining the front were members of the QSA who volunteered to speak the week before.

However, despite the small turn out, responses from attending students were positive.

“I was touched to hear their experiences,” international student Richard Lee said. 

This sentiment was shared by a number of participants.

Psychology major Bohyun Hwang said, “I’ve never met a non-heterosexual, so I was wondering about their experiences, how they were thinking.” 

The event went smoothly despite the small turnout and distracting noise of construction. The majority of the stories ended bittersweet, with members suffering from continued homophobia from home and one even having to move out the moment he graduated high school.

The recurring mantra through all of the speeches was “we are alive.” And for a group twice as likely to commit suicide, this is important.

When asked how he thought it went, QSA’s President Dillon McCormick said, “I thought it went really well. Prior to the lecture, I couldn’t expect a certain expectation because, when sharing coming out stories, it can trigger many emotional responses. I’m proud to say that through our honesty, we empowered each other to tell our stories with confidence.”

Brown-bag lectures are held every Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m in the Student Union Building’s Conference Room 204. The QSA’s next brown-bag lecture will be on November 6, titled “Awareness, Equality, Education.”