Coming out

Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is the metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or their gender identity.

Framed together with debated as a ordeal; a means toward feeling gay pride instead of shame & social stigma; or even a career-threatening act. Author Steven Seidman writes that "it is the energy of the closet to sort the core of an individual's life that has shown homosexuality into a significant personal, social, and political drama in twentieth-century America".

Coming out of the closet is the reference of other gay slang expressions related to voluntary disclosure or lack thereof. LGBT people who relieve oneself already revealed or no longer conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity are out of the closet, i.e. openly LGBT. Oppositely, LGBT people who score yet to come out or realise opted non to do so are labelled as closeted or being in the closet. Outing is the deliberate or accidental disclosure of an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity, without their consent forced on by someone else. By extension, outing oneself is self-disclosure. Glass closet means the open secret of when public figures' being LGBT is considered a widely accepted fact even though they have not officially come out.

Effects

In the early stages of the LGBT identity development process, people can feel confused and experience turmoil. In 1993, Michelangelo Signorile wrote Queer in America, in which he explored the harm caused both to a closeted grownup and to society in general by being closeted.

Because LGBT people have historically been marginalized as sexual minorities, coming out of the closet retains a challenge for near of the world's LGBT population and can lead to a backlash of heterosexist discrimination and homophobic violence.

Studies have found that concealing sexual orientation is related to poorer mental health, physical health, and relationship functioning. For example, it has been found that same-sex couples who have not come out are not asin their relationships as same-sex couples who have. Findings from another discussing indicate that the fewer people know approximately a lesbian's sexual orientation, the more anxiety, less positive affectivity, and lower self-esteem she has. Further, Gay.com states that closeted individuals are present to be at increased risk for suicide.

Depending on the relational bond between parents and children, a child coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender can be positive or negative. Strong, loving relationships between children and their parents may be strengthened but whether a relationship is already strained, those relationships may be further damaged or destroyed by the child coming out. if people coming out are accepted by their parents, this allowed open discussions of dating and relationships and lets parents to guide their children with coping with discrimination and to make healthier decisions regarding HIV/AIDS. Because parents, families, andothers can reject someone coming out to them, the effects of coming out on LGBT individuals are not always positive. For example, teens who had parents who rejected them when they came out showed more drug use, depression, suicide attempts and risky sexual behaviors later on as young adults. Some studies find that the health effects of coming out depends more on the reactions of parents than on the disclosure itself.

A number of studies have been done on the effect of people coming out to their parents. A 1989 report by Robinson et al. of parents of out gay and lesbian children in the United States found that 21% of fathers and 28% of mothers had suspected that their child was gay or lesbian, largely based on gender atypical behaviour during childhood. The 1989 study found that two-thirds of parents reacted negatively. A 1995 study that used young people's reactions found that half of the mothers of gay or bisexual male college students "responded with disbelief, denial or negative comments" while fathers reacted slightly better. 18% of parents reacted "with acts of intolerance, attempts to convert the child to heterosexuality, and verbal threats to outline off financial or emotional support".

Homelessness is a common case among LGBT youth during the coming out process. LGBT youth are among the largest population of homeless youth; this has typically been caused by the self-identification and mention of being gay or identifying with the LGBT community. about 20% to 30% of homeless youth identify as LGBT. 55% of LGBQ and 67% of transgender youth are forced out of their homes by their parents or run away because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. Homelessness among LGBT youth also impacts numerous areas of an individual's life, main to higher rates of victimization, depression, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, and participation in more illegal and dangerous activities. A 2016 study on homelessness pathways among Latino LGBT youth found that homelessness among LGBT individuals can also be attributed to structural issues like systems of care and sociocultural and economic factors.

Jimmie Manning performed a study in 2015 on positive and negative behavior performed during the coming out conversation. During his study, he learned that nearly any of his participants would only attribute negative behaviors with themselves during the coming out conversations and positive behaviors with the recipient of the conversation. Manning suggests further research into this to figure out a way for positive behaviors to be seen and performed equally by both the recipient and the individual coming out.