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This chapter traces the development of a repoliticized self‐help movement focused on visibility politics in the wake of the countermovement. It discusses the construction of a repoliticized collective identity among survivor activists, their understanding of self‐help as political, and their emphasis on identity disclosure, or coming out, as a political tactic. The chapter discusses the notion of visibility politics as including activist art, speak‐outs, and identity disclosures in daily life. It analyzes the tactical implications of identity disclosure and emotional transformation within social movements, and discusses the role of visibility politics in social movements more generally.

What makes a life good has been a topic of concern for human beings throughout the ages. Good lives may be thought of as truly exemplary in some way in terms of fulfillment, moral character, health, success, or excellence. In contemporary political discourse, some have asserted that the phrase “good gay life” is somehow an oxymoron. However, life experience and empirical evidence suggest otherwise. This chapter traces the narrative reflections of these virtues in the coming-out stories shared by a sample of 107 gay men and lesbians.

Chapter 4 explores gey (gay) identification in Turkey with an emphasis on the way connectivity regulates gey identity construction for young, upwardly mobile males. A borrowed global category, "gey" has helped reorganize homosexuality in Turkey in recent decades from a category of behavior into a discrete identity with its own patterns of living and thinking. For the young men fashioning their selves after this global gey subjectivity, being gey is about more than having sex with other men; it is about forging relationships based on versatility of sex roles, egalitarianism, and intimacy. Class also emerges as an important mediator of gey identity for these men - dressing a certain way, visiting particular cafes and bars, and displaying other markers of middle-classness all help constitute one as "gey," while lower-class markers signal belonging to other stigmatized homosexual categories. Yet these young men's identification with global gey ideals is complicated by the strong role family connection and honor plays in their life. For them, coming out as "gey" can mean abandoning family connections or risking bringing shame to their loved ones.

Voluntary esteem associations form for the purposes of magnifying positive esteem of their members. But individuals can be disesteemed by virtue of their being associated–as members of a race might be in a case of racial prejudice. This will imply: that members of the disesteemed association will not be given access to ‘voluntary’ esteem associations for which they would otherwise qualify; and that individuals’ esteem is attached to the esteem of the association to which they are assigned whether they like that or not. Such involuntary associations can readily form groups: only ‘in-group’ esteem may be available for them. Moreover, such groups may be especially good at managing free-rider problems by mobilizing extreme in-group loyalty. Or at least, will be so unless individuals can disguise their membership of the disesteemed class. Secrecy and the related phenomenon of ‘coming-out’ are discussed in this connection.

This book has explored the enduring yet evolving relationship between sexuality and the city, the causes and consequences of urban change, the diverse and dynamic cultures of a place, the experiences of a marginalized community on the doorstep of equality, and the protean meanings and material expressions of the gayborhood in America. Gayborhoods are artifacts of urban planning, but in the coming out era, they also embodied distinct queer cultures and communities. Today, however, they are straightening and becoming mainstream. The book concludes by suggesting that the queer spirit has become more plastic and portable in a post-gay era, which helps gayborhoods to evolve in exciting ways as many different gender and sexual minorities reinvent their relationship with them, and thus the city itself, in profound ways.

This chapter shows that “coming out” is not always the best phrase to describe what people do when they acknowledge that they have samesex attraction. In general, “putting one's business in the street” is something frowned upon in many black communities, including the communities in which many of the narrators grew up and currently live. As noted in the Introduction, most southerners avoid discussing topics such as sexuality in a direct manner. Thus, many of the men in Sweet Tea have not “come out”—as it were—to their families, even though, by their own acknowledgment, their family members “know.” The open secret of these men's homosexuality, in most instances, complicates our common notions of what it means to be “out,” especially in light of the white gay community's insistence on a politics of visibility.

This chapter traces the origin of the term coming out to gay men in pre–World War II urban communities, who spoke of coming out into gay society. It recounts how, by the 1970s, coming out had become a political tactic by which people revealed their sexual orientation to friends, neighbors, and co-workers or—in the case of celebrities—more publicly via the mass media in an effort to challenge harmful stereotypes and gain sympathy. It reviews how, in the 1980s and 1990s, coming out was set up in explicit relation to the metaphor of the closet and how the mantra “Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are” became a demand for members of sexual minorities to declare their sexual orientation—bringing forth the “closet case” and “outing.” It considers critiques of the imperative to come out and arguments that gay men and lesbians have moved “beyond the closet.”

This chapter discusses how appropriation of the LGBTQ rights strategy offers a unique way for understanding how coalitional rhetorics can both gesture to inclusionary and utopian politics and offer an alternative to both. It explores activism for the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for select undocumented youth. Such activism has been both highly utopian in its deployment of the “DREAM” metaphor and simultaneously normative in the type of inclusion the DREAM Act seeks and to whom it would provide inclusion. DREAM activism has also spurred other uses of the coming out strategy, including the development of “undocuqueer” activism and counter-DREAM activism, both of which turn toward coalition beyond the initial appropriation.

This chapter examines how the undocumented immigrant youth movement has evoked “coming out as undocumented and unafraid” to mobilize fearful constituents. It discusses the local and state-level legislative changes for which the movement as advocated, including the federal DREAM Act. It argues that while the DREAM Act never passed, the undocumented immigrant youth movement arguably led President Obama to sign the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order in June 2012, which deferred deportation for “Dreamers” who meet certain criteria on a two-year renewable basis. It further argues that the undocumented immigrant youth movement has successfully challenged cultural understandings by offering an alternative image to that of “illegal immigrants” sneaking across the border—that of educated and talented “DREAMers.”

The second chapter provides an overview of the concept of homosexual men, commonly known as “gay men”, and how this definition contrasts with perceptions on lesbianism and bisexuality. A developmental perspective assists in understanding the issues, functions, and personalities of gay men as compared to other sexual identities such as lesbian. There are differences in experience between gay males and lesbians during the coming out process yet the process truthfully affects the core identity and behavior of the person involved. Another related phenomenon is the manifestation of internalized homophobia on the attitudes, beliefs, and careers of homosexual men and women. Diversity of experimental groups in terms of race and ethnicity even makes the journey of conceptualization interesting. In addition, the minority status of gay and lesbian individuals can be an asset or liability depending on how the issue is approached.

This chapter discusses coming out as fat. It shows how fat lesbian feminists, who were already steeped in talk of coming out as lesbian, first extrapolated from that experience to talk of coming out as fat. It argues that coming out as fat is less about disclosing one’s size than refusing to downplay it in the hopes that others will not notice it. It means politicizing body size in order to challenge negative stereotypes and stand up against weight-based oppression. This chapter uses the case of coming out as fat to consider the broader question of the role visibility plays in coming out. It argues that coming out has never been only about revealing a hidden identity. It is about proudly reclaiming this identity. Thus community and pride—and not just disclosure—are an integral part of coming out.

This chapter focuses on the coming out experience related by TFAM members, detailing the differences from conventional accounts of coming out in the LGBT literature. The revelation of authenticity is seen as the most important dimension for members, since secrecy makes them less able to experience inhabitation by the Holy Spirit, the primary goal of revealing one's authentic self. The chapter includes various accounts of coming out, highlighting the spiritual components interlocutors report.

This chapter summarizes existing literature that describes the demographic, economic, and geographic characteristics of lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. It begins with a discussion of some of the data and methodological challenges associated with studying sexual orientation as a demographic characteristic. It then presents analyses to describe estimates of the size of lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations, as well as information about coming out (i.e., disclosure of these identities). The remainder of the chapter considers how lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations compare with the heterosexual population with regard to a variety of demographic characteristics including geographic distribution, age, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, socioeconomic status, family formation, and child-rearing.

This chapter presents Steve Reich's personal accounts about several of his early works. These include It's Gonna Rain (1965), Come Out (1966), Melodica (1966), Piano Phase (1967), Violin Phase (1967), Slow Motion Sound (1967), My Name Is (1967), and Pendulum Music (1968).

This chapter argues that coming out has become what sociologists call a “master frame,” a way of understanding the world that is sufficiently elastic and inclusive that a wide range of social movements can use it in their own campaigns. It introduces five movements that are the focus of the book—(1) the American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus (LGBTQ+) rights movement; (2) the fat acceptance movement; (3) the undocumented immigrant youth movement; (4) the plural-marriage family movement among Mormon fundamentalist polygamists; and (5) the #MeToo movement. It reviews the data and methods that form the basis of the book—participant observation, textual analysis, and 146 in-depth interviews. It argues that disparate groups use coming out to challenge negative stereotypes and overcome oppression, and that the close association of coming out with gay people informs the meaning of the term in other contexts. It previews the subsequent chapters.

This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Different Trains. Different Trains for string quartet and tape begins a new way of composing that has its roots in his early taped speech pieces, It's Gonna Rain and Come Out. The basic idea is that speech recordings generate the musical material for musical instruments.

Cases of lesbianism, homosexuality, and bisexuality can be traced back to the pre-adolescence and adolescence stage of development. Psychological research not only increases our knowledge and understanding on sexual identity but also gives voice to many young people who are sexual outcasts in society. This chapter reviews the concept of sexual identity and sexual behavior in the context of adolescence. The coming out models provide a picture of thoughts and feelings of teenagers towards the appearance of homoerotic images into their consciousness. Studies show that the response of youth to self-awareness ranges from relief and joy to depression and self-destructive behavior while manifestations of violence and harassment caused by the social environment result from home-related and school problems. Dating and sex likewise affects the emerging sexual identities among adolescents.

This chapter examines the history of homosexuality, natalism, and the controversy surrounding André Gide's book Corydon in France during the early 1900s. It mentions studies indicating that a vast homosexual culture thrived in Paris during the sexual revolution of the interwar years and suggests that this period constituted something of a golden age for French homosexuality. However, Gide's book has shown that tolerance of homosexuality was almost nonexistent outside of the capital and uncommon even within Paris. Many of the men and women who “came out” during this time experienced provincial intolerance, parental dismay, and public antipathy.

This chapter considers how things have changed in the second half of the Obama administration and under the Trump administration. It shows how transgender rights activists used the politics of coming out to make important gains during Obama’s second term. It also shows that while Trump has worked to reverse LGBTQ+ rights during his presidency, public opinion has shifted in ways that are not easily or quickly reversed. Having felt the relief and joy of exiting the closet, people are not willing to return so easily. Dreamers have likewise refused to retreat into the shadows, and the undocumented immigrant movement continues to encourage coming out as a political strategy. Meanwhile, the Trump administration seems to have provided a catalyst for feminist organizing—including but not limited to the issue of sexual harassment and assault, while also emboldening members of the “alt-right,” or white nationalist movement, to “come out of the woodwork.”