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Coming out of the closet, or simply coming out, is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, and asexual (LGBTQ+) people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation (or lack thereof) and/or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of the closet is described and experienced variously as a psychological process or journey;〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Coming Out: A 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;〔''Belfast Telegraph'': ("GAA star Donal Og Cusack: Teammates helped me through ordeal of revealing I am gay," October 20, 2009 ), accessed January 16, 2012〕 a means toward feeling gay pride instead of shame and social stigma; or even career suicide.〔Queerty: (Japhy Grant, "Rupert Everett Says Coming Out Killed His Career," February 20, 2009 ), accessed January 16, 2012〕 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."〔Seidman, Steven (2003). ''Beyond the Closet; The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life'', 25, ISBN 0-415-93207-6〕 It is important to differentiate between different definitions of coming out, rather than assuming the term is always used to mean the same thing, especially in order not to mistake someone's intention. First, people come out to themselves, an awakening and a process of identity development that goes through stages and then is over. They do not have to tell anyone else their sexual orientation in order to be out, they just have to know who they are. This type of coming out is about when someone learns something new about their own identity. Second, people have the right to choose to whom they will disclose their sexual orientation.This decision making process continues throughout the lifespan, especially when someone moves, starts a new job, and/or makes new friends. Because people can lose jobs or other support by coming out, it is important to respect their right to tell who they want to, rather than outing them. This type of coming out is about sharing information about one's identity with people that they know. Third, some people choose to publicly declare their sexual orientation to a group of strangers as an act of political activism. This is not done to figure out who they are or who their friends really are but to make the identity less invisible and to educate potential allies. This type of coming out is about advocating for equal rights and cultural sensitivity. These three definitions are not exhaustive, but knowing at least these three different uses of the term coming out can be helpful to those who are trying to understand the process. American gender theorist Judith Butler argues that the process of "coming out" does not free gay people from oppression. Although they may feel freer to act as themselves, the opacity involved in entering a non-heterosexual territory insinuates judgment upon their identity, she argues in ''Imitation and Gender Insubordination'' (1991). ''Coming out of the closet'' is the source of other gay slang expressions related to voluntary disclosure or lack thereof. LGBT people who have already revealed or no longer conceal their sexual orientation and/or gender identity are ''out'', i.e. openly LGBT. Oppositely, LGBT 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 LGBT person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, without their consent. 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.〔''OUT'' magazine: (Michael Musto, "The Glass Closet," September 22, 2008 ), accessed January 16, 2012〕 It can also be used in various non-LGBT applications, sometimes humorously. == History == In 1869, one hundred years before the Stonewall Riots, the German homosexual rights advocate Karl Heinrich Ulrichs introduced the idea of self-disclosure as a means of emancipation. Claiming that invisibility was a major obstacle toward changing public opinion, he urged homosexual people to reveal their same-sex attractions. In his 1906 work, ''Das Sexualleben unserer Zeit in seinen Beziehungen zur modernen Kultur'' (''The Sexual Life of Our Time in its Relation to Modern Civilization''),〔Bloch, Ivan. ''Das Sexualleben unserer Zeit in seinen Beziehungen zur modernen Kultur, 1906. English translation: ''The Sexual Life of Our Time in Its Relations to Modern Civilization'', 1910.〕 Iwan Bloch, a German-Jewish physician, entreated elderly homosexuals to self-disclose to their family members and acquaintances. In 1914, Magnus Hirschfeld revisited the topic in his major work ''The Homosexuality of Men and Women'', discussing the social and legal potentials of several thousand homosexual men and women of rank revealing their sexual orientation to the police in order to influence legislators and public opinion.〔Johansson&Percy, p.24〕 The first prominent American to reveal his homosexuality was the poet Robert Duncan. In 1944, using his own name in the anarchist magazine ''Politics'', he claimed that homosexuals were an oppressed minority.〔("Robert Duncan and Romantic Synthesis: A Few Notes" ). This article also republished as "On Robert Duncan" at Modern American Poetry website〕 The decidedly clandestine Mattachine Society, founded by Harry Hay and other veterans of the Wallace for President campaign in Los Angeles in 1950, moved into the public eye after Hal Call took over the group in San Francisco in 1953, with many gays emerging from the closet. In 1951, Donald Webster Cory〔(Donald Webster Cory ) on glbtq.com〕 published his landmark ''The Homosexual in America'', exclaiming, "Society has handed me a mask to wear...Everywhere I go, at all times and before all sections of society, I pretend." Cory was a pseudonym, but his frank and openly subjective descriptions served as a stimulus to the emerging homosexual self-awareness and the nascent homophile movement. In the 1960s, Frank Kameny came to the forefront of the struggle. Having been fired from his job as an astronomer for the Army Map service in 1957 for homosexual behavior, Kameny refused to go quietly. He openly fought his dismissal, eventually appealing it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a vocal leader of the growing movement, Kameny argued for unapologetic public actions. The cornerstone of his conviction was that, "we must instill in the homosexual community a sense of worth to the individual homosexual," which could only be achieved through campaigns openly led by homosexuals themselves. His motto was "Gay is good." With the spread of consciousness raising (CR) in the late 1960s, coming out became a key strategy of the gay liberation movement to raise political consciousness to counter heterosexism and homophobia. At the same time and continuing into the 1980s, gay and lesbian social support discussion groups, some of which were called “coming-out groups,” focused on sharing coming-out “stories” (experiences) with the goal of reducing isolation and increasing LGBT visibility and pride. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「coming out」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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