Choosing the center spread for this issue was controversial. National Coming Out Day is a holiday that brings light to the sharp divide in our society between those against gay rights and those who support them. It was difficult to get an edit board to share a unanimous view on the topic, especially when the world’s view on topics such as marriage equality are far from unanimous. With the statistics that 90 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens experience harassment at school because of their sexuality, according to the National Youth Association, it became obvious that there is one thing we all agree on.

On Monday July 29, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church said to reporters about the topic of gays in relation to the Catholic faith, “Who am I to judge?”

No matter what religion you believe in, whether you believe in a religion or not, Pope Francis’s words resonate the message we are aiming to achieve with this truck: who are we to judge?

The statistics of LGBT people who are bullied and in turn, attempt suicide, due to the rejection they get from society about their sexuality are horrifying. Why? Because their peers, families and communities tell them it is not okay to be who they are.

No matter what a person’s sexuality is, they should be allowed to be themselves in a community they feel is accepting. While coming out is a very personal decision, and one that should not be made due to outside pressures, it is also important to make sure such pressures aren’t making students want to hide a major part of their lives.The First Amendment provides us the ability as Americans to have freedom of expression, something society has limited by oppressing those who express an idea different than what is “socially acceptable.”

There is no reason L kids should be four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers, or that they are bullied two to three times more than straight teens. The Inkblot asks that if you get nothing else from this issue, you understand why we chose the topic of National Coming Out Day—to show that sometimes society needs a holiday to allow people to be who they are. Who are we to judge?