Today’s presentation will be a Hybrid meeting with online and in-person options.
Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/971381033
Join us in-person at The 519, 519 Church Street, Rm 301

In 1978, gay rights activist Harvey Milk gave an impassioned plea: “Every gay person must come out.” In the decades that followed, more and more Americans started coming out to their loved ones, some galvanized or even outed against their wishes by the AIDS epidemic.

Then, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the growing visibility of gay people in popular culture began to trigger a major shift in attitudes, social scientists said. By then, comedian Ellen DeGeneres had come out as gay, the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace” had taken off and Americans started seeing more examples of gay people in popular culture. Suddenly, all the gay people who had always lived in their social sphere were “visible”. Gay people felt more empowered to be visible and those around them also felt empowered to see what was always there. With the stigma of homosexuality reduced, everything about homosexuality could now be brought into the light and discussed. Myths were busted. Pains were shared. The LGBTQ community had found its voice and place within society and hundreds of thousands of people were standing up to ensure there would be no backsliding.

In 15 years from 2004 to 2019, attitudes on Gay Marriage, the bell-weather LGBTQ issue, flipped in North America from 60+ percent of the population against to 60+ percent in favour. The campaign to be Out and Proud made a huge difference to societal attitudes about the LGBTQ community.

Could a similar campaign make a difference for Humanism and its “fellow traveller” identities (atheist, agnostic, secular, freethinker, skeptic)?
NOTE: for the purpose of this write-up, I will use Humanism as an umbrella identity encompassing Humanist, Atheist, Freethinker, Agnostic, Skeptic and Secular. The alphabet designation HAFASS immediately springs to mind but, for obvious reasons, I hope someone can do better.
Are you living your life as Openly Humanist?
Do you regularly use Humanist as one of your identifiers?
Do all those important to you know you as a Humanist and know what this means to you?
Why would you want to live life as Openly Humanist?
What’s Stopping You?
How can you overcome what’s stopping you and live more openly?
What do you think of all this? What are your thoughts? Come to the meeting and express yourself.