성인기 초기 남성 동성애자의 성적 지향성 인지와 커밍아웃 경험

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the recognition of sexual orientations and to find out the coming out experience of sexual minorities who are at the center of social issues and controversies today. With the participation from six young adult gay men, three in-depth interview sessions were conducted from November 2015 until May 2017. The hermeneutical grounded theory methodology, as one of the qualitative research methods, was employed to analyze the gathered interview data and to select the 31 meanings, 8 categories and 4 topics. The results indicated that as time progressed, the recognition of sexual orientations, denials, and acceptances were precedent before the coming of the closet by the gay men. In addition, during the experiences of coming out of the closet, the family of the participants tended to deny the homosexual orientation of the participants while abusive language and violence from the family often existed. These negative responses from the family triggered low self-esteem, depression and helplessness of the gay men. Findings also indicated that more attention from the family science field, academia and field practices is required to be addressed on homosexuals and their families, while a brisk discussion on introducing institutional frameworks is critical for the protection of the human rights of sexual minorities.