Just in time for National Coming Out Day, Facebook has added a profile option that allows folks to share and celebrate their personal coming out stories.
“Came out” is now available as a life event on Facebook users profiles.
“For the LGBTQ community, Facebook is a way for you to come out, celebrate your pride and find support,” Tudor Havriliuc, a vice president at Facebook, told NBC News. “Visibility is so important because it changes hearts and minds about being LGBTQ when friends and family see us living our true lives.”
“We're excited to give more people the opportunity to ‘come out’ on Facebook,” Havriliuc added. “For National Coming Out Day, we hope people will share their coming out story and use the hashtag #ComingOutToShare to follow along with the wider community.”
To add “Came Out” as a life event on Facebook, users head over to the About link on their page.
On the left side, at the bottom of the list is “Life Events.” Click that and then choose “Family & Relationships” in the drop-down menu (or just “Relationships” if you;'re using your smart phone). There, you’ll find “Came Out” in the list of life events.
In addition to the date, the option allows users to add details, comments and photos to mark the occasion.
Facebook has experimented with LGBTQ-specific functions for several years.
In 2017, the social media giant added a rainbow “Pride” reaction for Pride month to the usual like, love, laugh, wow, sad and mad buttons.
According to MSN.com, some people used the feature to troll opponents of LGBT rights by using the Pride reaction in all their Facebook responses, and so the feature didn’t return.
In 2018, Facebook added rainbow filters, stickers and effects for users to add to photos and posts.
