Hiding in the closet? Bisexuals, coming out and the disclosure imperative

In discourses about gay, lesbian and bisexual identity, and in the models of sexual identity development that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, coming out is marked as one of the crucial steps in developing a healthy sexual identity. In these discourses, coming out is positioned as 'good' as it enables the healthy development of sexual identity, while non-disclosure is positioned as 'bad'. As such, there is a disclosure imperative attached to living as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Using empirical evidence gathered from in-depth interviews with 60 Australian bisexual men and women, this article argues that, for bisexuals, the decision about whether to come out is influenced by several factors not often taken into account in sexual identity development models and coming out narratives. These factors make it inherently more difficult to come out to others as bisexual, and significantly challenge the notion of the disclosure imperative.