"Coming Out" Applied To Non-LGBT Contexts
In political, casual, or even humorous contexts, "coming out" means by extension the self-disclosure of a person's secret behaviors, beliefs, affiliations, tastes, and interests that may cause astonishment or bring shame. Some examples include: "coming out as an alcoholic", "coming out as a conservative", "coming out as multiple", "coming out of the broom closet" (as a witch), and "coming out about plastic surgery" and coming out as a BDSM participant.
With its associated metaphors, the figure of speech has also been extended to atheism, e.g., "coming out as an atheist." A public awareness initiative for freethought and atheism, entitled the "Out Campaign", makes ample use of the "out" metaphor. This campaign is endorsed by prominent atheist Richard Dawkins, who states "there is a big closet population of atheists who need to 'come out.' "
Read more about this topic: Coming Out
Famous quotes containing the words coming, applied and/or contexts:
“Listen, Buster you and your quick-change acts aren’t going to hang orange blossoms all over me just because you feel the cold weather coming on. No thank you. I’ll go back where I can be honest without getting kicked around for it.”
—John Lee Mahin (1902–1984)
“Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
“The “text” is merely one of the contexts of a piece of literature, its lexical or verbal one, no more or less important than the sociological, psychological, historical, anthropological or generic.”
—Leslie Fiedler (b. 1917)