WATCH: Out Actress Jill Bennett's National Coming Out Day Homage to Those We've Lost

To commemorate those who have struggled and lost the fight with coming out, actress, activist , writer, and director Jill Bennett directs a video farewell to those members of the LGBT community we’ve lost to suicide.

The stark, stunning video features Bennett, Dalila Ali Rajah, Haviland Stillwell, Lauren Neal, Conor Lane, and Tyler Lowell.

“I wondered what more could be done. I knew that I didn’t have the answer,” Bennett explains in a release. “But what I could do is say goodbye.”

For out actress Bennett, National Coming Out Day is not only a time for celebrating the individuals who identify as LGBT, but also a time to pay tribute to the members of our community that we have lost.

“This video is a tribute and a statement from us, the survivors. My aim was to capture our pain and reaction to this epidemic.”

The video features portions of lesbian filmmaker Vanessa Libertad Garcia’s public suicide note. Libertad Garcia’s suicide in August served as Bennett’s ultimate motivation behind this heartfelt video concept. The actors in the video were asked to read Libertad Garcia’s note on film, and simply react.

Bennett says that National Coming Out Day is more than a day for celebrating our identity as LGBT people, but a day, as she remarks, “to remember those that we have lost, those that couldn’t find solace in the truth of their lives.”      

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