Coming out

"Coming out of the closet" (very often shortened to "coming out" in winking reference to the public introduction of debutantes) describes the voluntary public announcement of one's sexual orientation, sexual attractions, gender identity, or (less commonly) paraphilia.

Outing

The practice of announcing a closeted person's orientation against his or her wishes is known as outing them. Sometimes it is used to prove a political point, or unmask a divergence between private lifestyle and public stance.

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As such outing may be found libel by a court of law (for example, in 1957 the closeted Liberace successfully sued the Daily Mirror for merely insinuating that he was gay).

Related Topics:
1957 - Liberace - Daily Mirror

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Outing, according to gay or queer practitioners, is only justified when the person to be outed is a public or powerful figure actively involved in oppressing or denying equality to the very group they belong in. In cases such as the "violence" done by outing may be justified by the greater violence thus prevented (see utilitarianism). During the Eulenburg Affair, Brand, the founder of the first homosexual periodical, Der Eigene, printed a pamphlet which described how Bernhard Prince von Bülow, imperial chancellor, had been blackmailed for his sexuality and had kissed and embraced Scheefer at male gatherings hosted by Eulenburg, and thus was, being gay, morally obligated to publicly oppose Paragraph 175, which persecuted gay people.

Related Topics:
Utilitarianism - Eulenburg Affair - Bernhard Prince von Bülow - Chancellor - Blackmail - Paragraph 175

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