The members of Green Day have always been advocates for various social causes, including the environment, various diseases, and countless other organizations. They have also advocated for the gay community. In honor of National Coming Out Day, I've decided to write a piece summarizing their involvement with the gay community and how they personally influenced my own coming out story more than six years ago.

When Green Day released Dookie, the album containing "Coming Clean", a song about Billie's confusion over his sexual identity in his late teen years, the label wanted them to pick an up-and-coming pop-punk band that would satisfy the masses and blend well with their sound. In contrast of their first wish and as a tribute to Gilman Street, they brought the Pansy Division on their first major-label tour, a band that is notorious for being openly gay with songs such as "Cocksucker Club" and "He Whipped My Ass in Tennis (Then I Fucked His Ass in Bed)."