Race, Ethnicity, Gender, And Generational Factors Associated with the Coming-out Process Among Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual Individuals‪.‬

Identification with the gay, lesbian, or bisexual (GLB) community revolves around the concept of a common marginalized sexual identity. This community identification process has often been examined in the context of coming out, when an individual begins to associate her or himself personally and publicly with other GLB persons, or discloses her or his sexual identity to non-GLB persons. Demographic factors like race, ethnicity, gender, and age play important roles in the coming-out process, but few recent studies have looked at this phenomenon. Early studies attempted to explain connections between these life events. Dank's (1971) study of 237 gay men found the average age of first sexual desire toward the same gender occurred around age 13, while acceptance of sexual identity emerged much later, around age 19. Additionally, men over the age of 30 self-identified as gay approximately three years later than men under the age of 30, indicating some cohort effect. Other studies have reported awareness of same-gender feelings among men at an average age of 13 (Bell, Weinberg, & Hammersmith, 1981; Kooden et al., 1979; McDonald, 1982) and between 14 and 16 for women (Bell et al., 1981; Riddle & Morin, 1977).