Exterminating The “Coming Out” Culture

Lately, there has been news about a soccer player who came out as gay and he was praised for being brave. Truly it is brave of him to do so, however, it’s something as the LGBTQI community should not be celebrating.

We should not be celebrating someone for “coming out” because it sets precedent and culture of “coming out” which is unnecessary. Do heterosexual people have to come out to anyone? No, sexuality and gender identity is a personal thing it has nothing to do with my work and I shouldn’t feel obliged to go out there and announce to the world, oh hello “I’m gay” it’s time to start normalizing LGBTQI people as human beings. Why would we have a headline such as “ SA first openly gay soccer player”.

Let’s try to understand what this concept of coming out is. The University of Colorado wrote that “coming out” is the process of recognizing, accepting, and sharing with others one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Coming out is not a single event, but rather a life-long process. In our society, people tend to assume everyone is heterosexual, so LGBT+ people must continually decide in what situations they want to correct that assumption by disclosing their orientation or identity.

I would like to disagree with this notion of coming out. When are we going to get to a place where it’s not a big deal to be trans, gay, bi-sexual, lesbian, or queer? Let’s stop the #ComingOutofCloset culture. What closet were you in? The LGBTQI community should start normalizing LGBTQI people themselves because that would contribute to the change that we all want to see which is the extermination of heteronormative society to a better world where everyone could be themselves without having to disclose their personal life (who they are attracted to) to anyone.

The research was conducted on whether people would reveal their sexuality or gender identity at work and results show that most people wouldn’t.

They shouldn’t because it is none of anyone’s business just like heterosexuals don’t have to reveal anything about their identities. However the ideal workplace should be an LGBTQI friendly environment, that does not set heteronormative behaviors of assuming that everyone is heterosexual but be inclusive without the employee feeling the need to “come out”. Being LGBTQI is not a disability and you don’t need special care hence the work environment should be inclusive in the policies they make to be LGBTQI friendly. Let’s stop the culture that demeans LGBTQI people and let’s stop perpetuating and endorsing this culture

Disclaimer : The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Emphasy! Magazine