Coming Out Day Planned At Suffolk County Farm Tuesday

YAPHANK, NY — A Coming Out Day Celebration has been planned for Tuesday at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center in Yaphank.

The free event will run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

It is to coincide with National Coming Out Day, which is observed yearly to celebrate and raise awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community and the civil rights movement, officials said. The event is sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and Stony Brook Medicine to "offer a safe space for a celebration," according to officials.

The event is open to all families, LGBTQIA+ community members, and allies, officials said.

It will include wagon rides, pumpkin picking, crafts, face painting, a costume contest, a dance party, and food trucks.

"There's fun for everyone," a post read on the farm's website.

Cornell Cooperative Extension has a strong, ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and it "remains committed to actively creating and sustaining a culture of belonging that embraces a diverse audience," officials said.

"We recognize that personal and collective action is required to move our vision of belonging from the aspirational to the everyday experience of all members of our community," the post read.

Stony Brook Medicine, along with Cornell and other partners, released the findings of an LGBTQ+ Health Assessment study on Friday. It found about 24 percent of the 1,150 respondents in a study of Long Island's LGBTQ+ community contemplated suicide within the past three years, and about a third of them thought about self-harm.

About 50 percent of the respondents rated themselves as being in fair to poor mental health, according to key findings of Stony Brook's 2021 LGBTQ+ health needs survey.

Principal investigator of the study, Dr. Allison H. Eliscu, who serves as the medical director of the Adolescent LGBTQ+ Care Program at Stony Brook Medicine, said the top three issues cited by the survey’s respondents were access to behavioral health resources, training healthcare providers about LGBTQ+ health needs, and access to health insurance that addresses LGBTQ+ needs.

“Respondents also cited violence, bullying, and harassment as critical issues facing the community,” she said.