National Coming Out Day

1987

The year the power of Michael Stipe’s voice took its hold on me, helping to mold me into the woman I’d become. Two years before I stood before him and a woman I’d follow for all of my days beyond, Amy Ray, who taught me to be unapologetically exactly who I am and to stand tall for those who cannot. The 1987 March on Washington was not far from my home where I was a young teen in a small town void of diversity…