ON THURSDAY, DESPITE its misleading name, countries all over the world will be celebrating National Coming Out Day.

Since 1988, National Coming Out Day has been an event in which individuals can acknowledge their sexuality in a safe and supportive environment.

“The sheer number of people who do so at the same time makes it much easier than on a regular day, when one feels alone as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered person,” said history teacher Billy Vaughn, faculty sponsor of Uni's Gay-Straight Alliance.

However, the day is also about showing support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community. Participants are encouraged to wear identifying symbols such as the pink triangle or the Greek letter lambda.

A rally will be held on the University of Illinois Quad at noon and will feature local speakers to talk about their experiences in the LGBT community, but everybody is invited to share their coming out experiences or voice their support.

National Coming Out Day was established one year after the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, in which 500,000 people marched for gay and lesbian equality and the Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was publicly displayed for the first time. This year's event coincides with the 20th anniversary of that march. (The first march took place on Oct. 14, 1979.)

In the United States, National Coming Out Day is organized by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT civil rights group. This year's theme is "Talk About It."

"Twenty years ago, as the AIDS crisis was raging, coming out was literally a matter of life and death," said Mark Shields, director of HRC’s Coming Out Project, in a press release prepared by the group. "In many ways, we have come a very long way in a relatively short time, and yet that lesson still resonates deeply today. Coming out and living openly is the most important thing that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight-supportive Americans can do to build lasting understanding and equality."

According to a survey done by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 72 percent of Americans said they know or work with someone who indentifies themselves as gay or lesbian.