Closeted Gay Men | Gay Gu

Contents:

• CLOSETED GAY MEN – WHY ARE THEY STILL THERE?

CLOSETED GAY MEN – WHY ARE THEY STILL THERE?

This week, NBA center Jason Colls announced he was gay a ver story for Sports Illtrated. " This exprsn for revealg one's homosexualy may seem natural. But though the closet has long been a metaphor for privacy or secrecy, s e wh reference to homosexualy is relatively recent.

Acrdg to Gee Chncey's prehensive history of morn gay culture, Gay New York, the closet metaphor was not ed by gay people until the 1960s. Before then, don't appear anywhere " the rerds of the gay movement or the novels, diari, or letters of gay men and lbians.

""Comg out, " however, has long been ed the gay muny, but first meant somethg different than do now. "A gay man's g out origally referred to his beg formally prented to the largt llective maniftatn of prewar gay society, the enormo drag balls that were patterned on the butante and masquera balls of the domant culture and were regularly held New York, Chigo, New Orleans, Baltimore, and other ci. The phrase was borrowed om the world of butante balls, where young women "me out" beg officially troduced to gay butante balls were a matter of public rerd and often vered the newspaper, so "g out" wh gay society often meant revealg your sexual orientatn the wir society as well, but the phrase didn't necsarily rry the implitn that if you hadn't yet e out, you were keepg a secret.