Hyphen: Jewish Stories in Our Own Words is a comic anthology bringing together 12 real stories of diverse Jews from around the world. It is a celebration of Jewish life, amplifying voices that have too often been overlooked. One of those stories is that of Dubbs Weinblatt, whose story is now also featured in the special one-off Hyphen: National Coming Out Day Edition. The 16-page comic also features a short history on the holiday and a guide to Being a Trans Ally. Enjoy this note from Dubbs, and we hope you’ll join us to celebrate the launch of the comic at SJC in NYC on October 14.
Dear Reader,
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for taking the time to pick up this comic to learn from my story.
Every year on October 11th, we acknowledge National Coming Out Day – a day to celebrate and support folks from the LGBTQIA+ community in their “coming out or into-self” journeys. Each person has a unique experience navigating their own identities, families, communities, religions, and so much more. One of the hardest things about coming out is not knowing how the people on the other end of the conversation will react. Will they still love me? Will I still have a family? A home? Am I still welcome in my synagogue or church or community group?
This special HYPHEN National Coming Out Day Edition highlights my personal journey of figuring myself out through decades of questioning, strife, anguish and eventually triumph, affirmation and joy.
When I was growing up, I knew I always felt different but didn’t have the language or understanding of what was happening to be able to share it with other people. And when I did start to figure it out, I was terrified by the thought of how my people would react.
Queer people are constantly negotiating safety when determining if disclosing parts of ourselves will be held with love or denied with ignorance or hate. We aren’t the only ones who have to do this. Have you ever been afraid to tell someone something about yourself for fear of how they’d react? Have you ever received messages from your different communities that ‘different is bad’ or ‘you must fall in line to belong’? It’s pretty common, and whether you’re queer or not, as humans we have to negotiate what parts of ourselves are safe to disclose to others. We all contain multitudes, and if we’re doing it right, we’re always learning something new about ourselves, which then means constant sharing and updating.
In 2015, I founded the queer improv show Thank You For Coming Out as a way to uplift and celebrate queer coming out and coming into-self moments and to hopefully make it a little easier and more comfortable for folks to embrace themselves and their stories. That improv show turned into a podcast (now in our EIGHTH season as of 2026) and a company that teaches Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging workshops. Thousands of people have participated in the Thank You For Coming Out ecosystem by either telling their story, performing improv or sketch, speaking on the podcast, listening to the podcast, or engaging with our social media. The more we share our stories, the more connected we feel.
After reading my story, I hope that you feel inspired to not only continue your journey of learning about others but also to take the time to learn more about yourself; it’s the most important thing you could ever do. Why? Because when we do the work to deeply understand and embrace ourselves, it opens up our world in unimaginable ways to do the same for others.
With all my love and gratitude,
Dubbs Weinblatt
Get your special copy of Hyphen: Coming Out Day Edition here!
About Dubbs:
