The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Subject Headings (LCSH)

Coming out (Sexual orientation)


  • Here are entered works on the process of accepting and sharing one's sexual orientation with oneself and/or others.

  • URI(s)

  • Variants

    • Closet, Coming out of the (Sexual orientation)
    • Coming out (Sexual identity)
    • Coming out of the closet (Sexual orientation)

  • Broader Terms

  • Related Terms

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Earlier Established Forms

    • Coming out (Sexual identity)

  • Sources

    • found: Random House.
    • found: Women's thes.
    • found: Hennepin(Gay men--Coming out; Lesbians--Coming out)
    • found: LC data base, 11/29/90.
    • found: GSSO - the Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation ontology, Feb. 8, 2023(coming out. SN A metaphor for LGBTQIA+ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation or of their gender identity. The term coming out can also be used in various non-LGBTQIA+ applications (e.g. atheists). Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of the closet is described and 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 career suicide. 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". Has synonym: coming out of the closet)
    • found: Homosaurus, Feb. 8, 2023(Coming out. SN Process of accepting and sharing one's sexual or gender identity with oneself and/or others.)
    • found: Callahan, RC. The effects of the coming out process on academic experience among lesbian, gay, and bisexual university students, 2011.(OCoLC)768345725
    • found: Movick, Teresa A. Factors that influence the coming out process for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, 2010.(OCoLC)662652319
    • found: Hooi, Vicky L. T. A case study : bisexual coming out experience and the role of therapy, 2016.(OCoLC)973883924

  • General Notes

    • Here are entered works on the process of accepting and sharing one's sexual orientation with oneself and/or others.

  • Instance Of

  • Scheme Membership(s)

  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Change Notes

    • 1990-12-05: new
    • 2023-12-15: revised

  • Alternate Formats