[Ads-l] Antedating of "Come Out of the Closet" (Homosexuality)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ben, "ISR" is the Library of the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana
University, where I traveled in 1977 in search of enlightenment.

They had an extensive manuscript collection of limericks, bawdy songs,
graffiti, etc., collected from IU students and others.

The HDAS Bibliography would have made such things clear, but it is not to
be.

JL

On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 3:22 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just to further complicate the chronology, the metaphorical gay "closet"
> does extend further back in the compound form "closet queen/fag." HDAS has
> this as the earliest cite for "closet queen":
>
> 1959 ISR Graffiti: You closet queens are full of shit.
>
> (Jon, what's "ISR"?)
>
> And Green's Dictionary of Slang has:
>
> 1961 A. Reiss in Cressey & Ward _Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process_
> (1969) 994: In the organized ‘gay world,’ they are known as ‘closet fags’.
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 2:39 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > One issue is how to fold in the metaphorical “closet”, which isn’t part
> of
> > these earlier cites below.  Is it possible that there was a reanalysis
> > involved, so that “come out” is now seen as parasitic on/truncated from
> > “come out of the closet”, even though the historical trajectory was
> > different?
> >
> >
> > > On Jan 23, 2018, at 2:34 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 2:01 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> > > RDECOM AMRDEC (US) wrote:
> > >
> > >>>
> > >>> come out of the closet (homosexuality) (OED 1972)
> > >>>
> > >>> 1968 _Berkeley Barb_ 15-21 Mar. 12/1 (Independent Voices)  HAY
> FRUITS!
> > >> Come out of the closet long enuf to attend the East Bay Gay
> > >>> Discussion Group Fridays.
> > >>
> > >> It would be nigh-on impossible to search for, I suspect, but I wonder
> > when
> > >> "of the closet" started being dropped, and when "come out" started
> being
> > >> applied to characteristics other than homosexuality ("come out as a
> > >> Republican", etc.).
> > >
> > >
> > > See OED3 senses 12 and 13 of "come out" (s.v. "come" -- June 2017
> > update).
> > >
> > > ----
> > > 12. intr. With complement. To make a public declaration in support of
> or
> > > against something specified; to declare oneself a supporter of, or act
> as
> > > an advocate for, a particular cause.
> > > See also _to come out in one's true colours_ at _colour_ n.1 Phrases
> 5a.
> > > 1836   New-Yorker 26 Mar. 9/2   James B. Gardiner..was then a supporter
> > of
> > > Mr. Van Buren's claims for the Presidency.—Since that time, he has come
> > out
> > > as a partisan of Gen. Harrison.
> > > [...]
> > > 13. intr.
> > > a. slang. Among homosexual men and women: to become socially or
> sexually
> > > active within homosexual circles; to realize that one is homosexual.
> Now
> > > rare except as passing into sense 13b.
> > > Perhaps influenced by the idea of social debut in sense 8c.
> > > 1941   G. Legman in G. W. Henry Sex Variants II. 1161   Come out, to
> > become
> > > progressively more and more exclusively homosexual with experience.
> > > 1949   ‘Swasarnt Nerf’ in H. Hagius Gay Guides for 1949 (2010) 48
>  Come
> > > out, to be initiated into the mysteries of homosexuality.
> > > [...]
> > > b. To acknowledge or declare openly that one is homosexual. Also in
> > > extended use with reference to other sexual or gender identities. Cf.
> _to
> > > come out of the closet_ at _closet_ n. and adj. Phrases 2a.
> > > 1971   Observer 17 Jan. 3/1   ‘I enjoy my double life,’ said a delicate
> > > youth wearing a gold chain belt in a Chelsea pub, ‘I don't want to come
> > > out.’
> > > 1974   Win 3 Oct. 10/2   The conference..was a very special occasion
> for
> > > me. It was the time when I came out as a bisexual.
> > > [...]
> > > ----
> > >
> > > So "come out as a Republican (etc.)" long predates the
> coming-out-as-gay
> > > usage, though latter may inflect the interpretation of the former these
> > > days.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>



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