Visibility

Abstract

Gay and lesbian rights organizations since the mid-twentieth century have advocated coming out as a tool for claiming inclusion (D’Emilio 1998 [1983]). While this approach is widespread in the Hungarian LGBTQ community, just as often people argue for or against coming out with reference to notions of kinship. The result is often various forms of partial coming out, which trouble the closet/outness dichotomy widely accepted in public and academic discourses. Moreover, it is not only LGBTQ people but also their family members who need to struggle with issues of visibility and create their own strategies for managing the ‘sticky’ stigma of same-sex sexuality.