What is coming out? (Reading)

Coming out is a process of understanding, accepting and valuing one’s own personal sexual and romantic orientation and/or gender identity. It involves exploring personal identity of sexuality, sexual and romantic orientation and/or gender identity, arriving at a definition that is comfortable and true to one’s self, and also sharing and expressing these identities and feelings. People can come out

• as any identity the LGBTQI+ mosaics contains: as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc.

• One can also come out as an intersex person – but remember: intersexuality is not an identity in the same sense as LGBT identities, but rather a biological reality that might need recognition and acknowledgement.
• And the topic of coming out can also be the various forms of sexual desires and relationship formats people experience or commit to, that are not in line with the heteronormative narratives. Thus, persons of any sexual orientation or gender identities can come out as asexual, or as someone interested in BDSM or committed to non-monogamous relational settings.

What does it mean to be “out”?

Being “out” most often doesn’t mean that a person is out in every important social context and relationship. Rather, “being out” and “coming out” mean various things to different persons. Each person is the only one to decide when and how safe it is to come out, and whether to come out in one part of their life and not in another. For example, one may be out in the family and not at school, among friends or at work.