Telling my life: Narratives of coming out in LGB people between certainty/uncertainty and revelation/concealment

Introduction: The coming out (CO) process frequently entails moments of questioning and challenge, as well as strength and resilience. The aim of the present study was to investigate the CO process and identity development of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people through their own life narratives. Method: Adopting a social-constructionist perspective, we administered the Life Story Interview (LSI) from the qualitative protocol of the Generations Study. In total, 64 LGB people aged 23-75 participated in the study. Interviews were analyzed using the semiotic enunciative square technique, based on discourse analysis and mitigation markers. Result: The present study highlighted how participants' life stories were characterized by fluctuating moments lived between certainty/uncertainty, revelation/concealment, denial/non-denial (i.e., blocked identity vs. assertive-agent identities), and acceptance/non-acceptance (i.e., aware vs. fearful identities). Conclusion: The perspective of social constructionism was shown to be appropriate for investigating the CO process. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

Automated summary

This study investigated the identity development of LGB individuals during the coming out process through their life narratives. The analysis revealed that participants' life stories were characterized by fluctuating moments of certainty/uncertainty, revelation/concealment, denial/assertion, and acceptance/fear. The social constructionist perspective was found to be appropriate for studying the coming out process.