Around 100 people and a record number of community organizations assembled on Britton Plaza for the annual Out on Britton event on Sept. 8.

Out on Britton, hosted each year by the Office of LGBTQ services, is held to celebrate National Coming Out Day, where people who are LGBTQ can share their stories of when they came out and LGBTQ allies can show their support.

“We’re going to be visible and we’re going to be heard,”

Director of LGBTQ services Erica Gordon said.

Event organizers said that there were a record number of campus and community organizations represented at this year’s celebration.

“This is the most number of organizations that there’s ever been,” said Talya Auger ’16, a pride coordinator for the Office of LGBTQ services who helped organize the event. “I was really happy that African American Society and Social Justice House came this year and I was really happy with the number of non-Dickinson organizations that came. I was happy to have Delta Nu there this year. This was their first year there… and I thought that was really cool they were there.”

Auger hopes that more different groups that “aren’t necessarily social justice and LGBTQ based” gain more support and become more inclusive spaces.

Gordon explains that communities need to provide a “safe place for people to know that there are people here that are visible” and that are “willing to share their stories.”

“If someone is able to relate to someone’s story… [or] experience, it could make it that much easier for them… to be out, for when that time comes, it’s safe for them to do so,” Gordon said. “I think it’s important for this event to happen because… there are students that need to know that they’re not alone,” Gordon said.

“The visibility [of the event] is really important,” said Auger. “It’s important to have very visible events so that people feel like there’s a community, that they can be supported if they choose to come out or be a part of the community.”

Lydia Orr ’19 said that Out on Britton “gives people a voice and provides empowerment for people who don’t have a voice and have felt powerless by society.”

Orr also said that it “allows people to freely come out in a judge-free zone… and to let other people know that it’s okay for them to be who they are and they shouldn’t hide it.”

This year, Dickinson alumnae, Lauren Wetherell-Carranza ’09 came to the event and talked about her story of coming out.  Wetherell-Carranza recalled the experience of coming out as “down right scary,” but said that if more people are vocal about coming out now, the world will be less discriminatory for future generations of LBGTQ youth.

There has also been an increase of people who come to support the community and of people who shared their stories, or those who are still closeted. Wetherell-Carranza expressed that it was “mind-blowing” how many people came to the event.  She said that only 15 to 20 people showed up to the first Out on Britton at Dickinson and that its “crazy” how many people came that afternoon.

Gordon also said that they were “pleasantly surprised” with the turnout.

“We had pizza for the 50ish people and it was gone at… the beginning of the event,” Gordon said.