Ĭoming out of the closet is the source of other gay slang expressions related to voluntary disclosure or lack thereof. 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'. Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or their gender identity.įramed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of the closet is experienced variously as a psychological process or journey decision-making or risk-taking a strategy or plan a mass or public event a speech act and a matter of personal identity a rite of passage liberation or emancipation from oppression an ordeal a means toward feeling gay pride instead of shame and social stigma or even a career-threatening act.