The history of ‘coming out,’ from secret gay code to popular political protest

58 points by bobstonite 4 hours ago on reddit | 1 comment

[OP] bobstonite | 4 hours ago

Submission statement: A sociologist who has written a book on the topic summarizes the history of 'coming out', as a behavior and as a phrase.

>In the late 19th and early 20th century, gay subculture thrived in many large American cities.

>Gay men spoke of “coming out” into gay society – borrowing the term from debutante society, where elite young women came out into high society. A 1931 news article in the Baltimore Afro-American referred to “the coming out of new debutantes into homosexual society.” It was titled “1931 Debutantes Bow at Local ‘Pansy’ Ball.”