Editing Coming out (section)

{{Short description|Process of revealing one's sexual orientation or other attributes}}
{{Redirect|Come out|other uses|Come out (disambiguation)|and|Coming out (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Coming-Out Day 2020 in The Hague - Rainbow flags at Hofvijver next to the national parlement of the Netherlands - img 01.jpg|thumb|[[Rainbow flag (LGBTQ)|Rainbow flag]]s raised to celebrate [[National Coming Out Day]] in the Netherlands]]
{{LGBTQ sidebar|culture}}
'''Coming out of the closet''', often shortened to '''coming out''', is a [[metaphor]] used to describe [[LGBTQ]] people's [[self-disclosure]] of their [[sexual orientation]], [[romantic orientation]], or [[gender identity]].

This is often framed and debated as a [[privacy]] issue, because the consequences may be very different for different individuals, some of whom may have their [[job security]] or personal security threatened by such disclosure. The act may be viewed as a psychological process or journey;<ref name="Coming Out: A Journey">{{cite web |url=http://utahpridecenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=44 |title=Coming Out: A Journey |publisher=[[Utah Pride Center]] |access-date=24 June 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825202112/http://utahpridecenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=44 |archive-date=25 August 2009}}</ref> [[decision-making]] or [[Risk|risk-taking]]; a strategy or plan; a mass or public event; a [[speech act]] and a matter of [[Identity (social science)|personal identity]]; a [[rite of passage]]; [[liberty|liberation]] or [[emancipation]] from [[oppression]]; an [[wikt:ordeal|ordeal]];<ref>{{cite news |date=20 October 2009 |title=GAA star Donal Og Cusack: Teammates helped me through ordeal of revealing I am gay |work=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/gaa-star-donal-og-cusack-teammates-helped-me-through-ordeal-of-revealing-i-am-gay/28501081.html |access-date=16 January 2012}}</ref> a means toward feeling [[LGBT pride]] instead of [[shame]] and [[social stigma]]; or a career-threatening act.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.queerty.com/rupert-everett-says-coming-out-killed-his-career-20090220/ |first=Japhy |last=Grant |title=Rupert Everett Says Coming Out Killed His Career |magazine=[[Queerty]] |date=20 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015003811/http://www.queerty.com/rupert-everett-says-coming-out-killed-his-career-20090220/ |archive-date=15 October 2010}}</ref> Author [[Steven Seidman]] writes that "it is the power of the closet to shape the core of an individual's life that has made homosexuality into a significant personal, social, and political drama in twentieth-century America".<ref>Seidman, Steven (2003). ''[[iarchive:beyondclosettran0000seid b7u6|Beyond the Closet; The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life]]'', 25, {{ISBN|0-415-93207-6}}</ref>

''Coming out of the closet'' is the source of other [[gay slang]] expressions related to voluntary disclosure or lack thereof.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Tony E. |title=Narrating the Closet: An Autoethnography of Same-Sex Attraction |date=2011 |publisher=Left Coast Press |location=Walnut Creek, CA |isbn=978-1-59874-620-4 |url=https://www.routledge.com/Narrating-the-Closet-An-Autoethnography-of-Same-Sex-Attraction/Adams/p/book/9781598746204}}</ref> LGBTQ people who have already revealed or no longer conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity are ''out of the closet'' or simply ''out'', i.e., openly LGBTQ. By contrast<!--'Oppositely' is awkward English  -->, LGBTQ people who have yet to come out or have opted not to do so are labelled as [[closeted]] or being in the closet. [[Outing]] is the deliberate or accidental disclosure of an LGBTQ person's sexual orientation or gender identity by someone else, without the first individual's consent. By extension, ''outing oneself'' is self-disclosure. ''Glass closet'' refers to the [[open secret]] of a public figure widely thought to be LGBTQ even though the person has not officially come out.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.out.com/entertainment/2008/09/22/glass-closet |first=Michael |last=Musto |author-link=Michael Musto |title=The Glass Closet |magazine=[[Out (magazine)|Out]] |date=22 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705232840/http://www.out.com/entertainment/2008/09/22/glass-closet |archive-date=5 July 2012}}</ref>