National Coming Out Day is an annual day of awareness for the LGBTQIA+ community observed on October 11. The day aims to celebrate and support the LGBTQIA+ community, by recognizing the most fundamental form of activism, which is coming out to friends, family, and associates as an open member of the LGBTQIA+ community. The driving belief and foundational motivation for the day is that homophobia thrives and grows in an environment of silence, and that when people realize they have friends or relatives that are openly LGBTQIA+, they are less likely to maintain oppressive beliefs.