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Reader question: Please explain “come out” in this headline: Celebrities Who Have Recently Come Out. My comments: Good question. The headline tells the story of famous people who have lately revealed that they are homosexuals. Celebrities, you see, are famous people whose life and deeds are celebrated, i.e. talked about a lot. The question we’re interested in is why “coming out” stands for people revealing their homosexual status, or secrets. Come out, you see, is short for “come out of the closet”, which is the standard idiom for people revealing their homosexual status or other peculiarities. “Closet” suggests that before they step into the spotlight, their private life is kept secret, as if they live in a closet, the cupboard built into the wall of a room from floor to ceiling used as wardrobe or storage. For people to come out of the closet is, therefore, for them to come out of hiding. Anyone may come out of the closet by revealing anything they’ve kept secret for long for fear of embarrassment or persecution, but latterly, gays (males) and lesbians (female) seem to have monopolized the expression for coming to terms with their own particular problems. Anyways, gays and lesbians and other people with peculiarities coming out signifies society’s changing attitudes towards these people. It’s a sign of progress for society at large. It’s a good thing because, let’s face it, their peculiar sexual preference or preferences does not make them any less human than the rest of us. | 
