Review of “Come out, Come out, Whoever You Are”

Abstract

Before the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the term “coming out” was used to describe the entry of debutantes into high society and a selective dating pool. According to George Chauncy in Gay New York, gay men appropriated the concept of coming out long before Stonewall, but the phrase had a different meaning. Gay men described themselves as “coming out” into gay society and joining the urban gay social networks. Only after the Stonewall Riots and the rise of gay liberationist activism did “coming out” mean revealing one’s gender or sexual identity to others, often cisgender or heterosexual others like parents and co-workers. Only then did “coming out” get developed as a certain political tactic, an approach to social change that relied on increasing visibility and the cumulative impact of personal politics on the social world. “Coming out” also tactically moved homosexuality and bisexuality from something discussed with covert and coded language to a topic that was spoken aloud in a positive manner.