History Main / ComingOutStory

* ''Film/TheDanishGirl'':

[[folder:Real Life]]
* We haven't got enough space for everyone's coming out, but we can list the most famous ones.
** One of the most famous real-life coming outs was Creator/EllenDeGeneres in 1997, followed shortly after in the same year by the coming-out of the fictional character she played - in both cases they came out as lesbian.
** Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, came out as a transgender woman in 2015 through an interview with Diane Sawyer; this made Jenner one of the most famous openly transgender women in the world.
** Creator/ElliotPage went through it twice. When he was still known as Ellen Page, he came out as being attracted to women and was considered a lesbian. Years later he came out as a heterosexual transgender man.
* Susan Calman wrote that these are "[[MiseryPoker something of a competitive sport]]" in the LGBT+ community, with everyone trying to top the others in who had the worst experience with it.
[[/folder]]

* Occurs in ''Literature/AbsolutelyPositivelyNotGay'' to the main character. He actually comes out multiple times in the book; once, he comes out to his best friend, is confused when she doesn't care, and then has a mini panic attack when she tells her parents. Her 6-year-old sibling comes into the room and asks, "Did he finally tell her he's gay?" His coming out to his parents is actually interestingly subverted. He comes out to each parent separately. Both are fine with it but tell him not to come out to the other just yet, as they don't think the other person will be as supportive.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The 9th ''Literature/DalzielAndPascoe'' novel, ''Child's Play'', is basically this for Sgt. Wield.
* Given a nice twist in Holly Black's fantasy novel ''Tithe'', in which one of the characters literally came out to his oddball family and sci fi geek mother by saying: [[SlashFic "Mom, you know the forbidden love Spock has for Kirk? Well, me too."]] Lampshaded after as Kaye says that is the strangest coming out story she's ever heard.
* The whole point of ''Literature/{{Parrotfish}}'' by Ellen Wittlinger, only the main character Grady is coming out as transgender. Lacks most of the cliches associated with Coming Out Stories, in that Grady was almost in a TransparentCloset, so it didn't surprise his family at all, and most people at school ignored him anyway.
* Occurs in ''Absolutely Positively Not Gay'' to the main character. He actually comes out multiple times in the book; once, he comes out to his best friend, is confused when she doesn't care, and then has a mini panic attack when she tells her parents. Her 6-year-old sibling comes into the room and asks, "Did he finally tell her he's gay?" His coming out to his parents is actually interestingly subverted. He comes out to each parent separately. Both are fine with it but tell him not to come out to the other just yet, as they don't think the other person will be as supportive.
* There are quite a few books of lesbian coming out stories, for example this one called [[http://www.amazon.com/Testimonies-Lesbian-Coming-Out-Stories--Updated-Revised/dp/1555835465/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282162105&sr=1-2 Testimonies: Lesbian Coming-Out Stories.]]
* There are also some books of gay men's coming out stories, for example [[http://www.amazon.com/Boys-Like-Us-Writers-Stories/dp/0380788357/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382726840&sr=1-2&keywords=gay+men+coming+out Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories.]]
* There's at least one book with bisexual men's coming out stories, called [[http://www.amazon.com/Bi-Men-Coming-Every-Which/dp/1560236159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381873148&sr=1-1&keywords=bi+men+coming+out Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way.]]
* Here's a book called [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JZWNI4/ref=asc_df_B004JZWNI42774021?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=dealt627305-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B004JZWNI4 A Woman Like That: Lesbian And Bisexual Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories.]] Pretty self-explanatory.
* ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'':
** [[spoiler:In ''City of Glass'', Alec Lightwood comes out rather awesomely by kissing Magnus in the middle of the entire Clave, including his parents]].
** Parodied, when Luke gets Simon a pamphlet called 'How To Come Out to Your Parents' when he becomes [[spoiler:a vampire]] and tells him to adapt it to suit the situation. Neither Simon nor Clary is amused.

* In Creator/JodiPicoult's ''Literature/SingYouHome'', the main character Zoe starts dating her friend Vanessa after divorcing her husband of 10 years. The main plot of the book is them trying to start a family with the embryos Zoe and her husband froze after IVF treatments. However, the book has all the cliches of this storyline, such as one character supporting her (her mom) and one character being homophobic out of nowhere (justified, because her husband had just converted to Christianity).
* In ''Literature/{{Hero}}'' by Creator/PerryMoore, Thom is forced to come out [[spoiler: to clear the villain Sssnake for a murder. He was getting intimate with Sssnake at the time that the murder occured.]]
* The M/M procedural series ''Literature/CutAndRun'' by Abigail Roux gives us one '''''hell''''' of a [[TheReveal reveal]] in book 7, ''Touch & Geaux'' where [[spoiler: FBI Special Agent Ty Grady outs both himself and his [[DoubleMeaning partner]] Zane Garrett by kissing him in front of their entire department, since Ty had just learned he was being recalled to active service in the Marine Corps.]].
* Surprisingly averted in ''Literature/AutobiographyOfRed''. From his first teenage romance onward, the main character's sexuality is taken for granted by everyone (including himself).
* ''Literature/SimonVsTheHomoSapiensAgenda'' is one for the title character Simon, as well as for his e-mail penpal Blue.

* ''Literature/RunningWithLions'' has main character Sebastian struggling with letting people know he's bisexual, but with getting close to his LoveInterest Emir, developing as an athlete and team leader, he starts to be more comfortable with it and telling others.
* ''Literature/JustJuliet'': Lena comes out to her friends as being bisexual early on after she realizes her sexuality. Coming out to her parents though takes longer. All of them accept her, though her parents more reluctantly.

!!Examples:

[[caption-width-right:231:[[EpicFail And the other two are ]][[CastFullOfGay transgender and gender fluid.]]]]

* ''Film/TheIncrediblyTrueAdventureOfTwoGirlsInLove'': In a subplot, Evil tells her friends about her being with Randy. Two don't take this well and reject her, while the third is accepting though too meek to stand up for her.

* "Film/{{Trevor|1994}}" is about a 13-year-old boy who struggles with the realization that he is gay, especially after he's outed to the whole school. It ends with "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross on the soundtrack (CampGay Trevor is a Diana Ross fan).

* Subverted by [[spoiler:Amity]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. Her falling in love with Luz hits all the usual beats: confusion, new feelings, etc., but because she comes from a society where LGBTQ+ people are completely normalised, she struggles with falling in love for the first time, rather than falling in love with another girl. For her part, Luz appears to have been openly bisexual before she even got to the Demon Realm, [[spoiler:though she doesn't officially come out to her mother until the first episode of season 3.]]
** "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS3E1ThanksToThem Thanks to Them]]": Downplayed. During the TimePassesMontage, Luz edits a video with the title "Lumity Studios" to come out as bisexual to her mother, and introduces Amity as her girlfriend after the video is over. Camila, for her part, instantly hugs Luz and Amity at the same time, showing that she accepts them both.

* Subverted by [[spoiler:Amity]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. Her falling in love with Luz hits all the usual beats: confusion, new feelings, etc., but because she comes from a society where LGBTQ+ people are completely normalised, she struggles with falling in love for the first time, rather than falling in love with another girl. For her part, Luz appears to have been openly bisexual before she even got to the Demon Realm.

* ''Film/TheyThem'': Played with; Ash's classmates acknowledge that they identify as nonbinary, or at least trans, without Ash having to spell it out for them. However, Ash gets bullied to hell and back over it, and they're [[InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube forcibly outed while reciting a poem about their identity]]. The culmination of the story is when [[spoiler:Ash recites the poem in front of their whole class for real, letting them come out on their own terms this time, thus technically playing this trope straight.]]

Related to LateComingOut, which is for people who come out well into adulthood, and ComingOfAgeQueerRomance, which is for people coming out when they're entering puberty. If a character comes out as a supernatural creature, see HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster. If a trans person has supernatural help coming out, see SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson. This trope has a strong overlap with QueerEstablishingMoment in stories where it isn't the main focus of the work. For ways that characters can realize their identity, see ClosetKey or LGBTAwakening. Such stories will often be inspired by Coming Out Stories.

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', [[spoiler:Charles]]' route involves him coming to terms with his homosexuality and how it's affecting his political career in the student council. [[spoiler:In high school, he comes out as gay to the PlayerCharacter when they catch him in crying in the bathroom after losing the elections. Then he comes over to their house to ask them for help in dealing with it because his sister caught him first and their father is homophobic. Thanks to the PC's support, Charles becomes brave enough to come out to his dad but still gets kicked out of the house, but he fights for LGBT+ rights in his good ending in the epilogue, looking to his sister for support (and also the PC if [[GayOption he marries him]] after years of on-again-off-again dating).]]

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', [[spoiler:Charles]]' route involves him coming to terms with his homosexuality and how it's affecting his political career in the student council. [[spoiler:In high school, he comes out as gay to the PlayerCharacter when they catch him in crying in the bathroom after losing the elections. Then he comes over to their house to ask them for help in dealing with it because his sister caught him first and their father is homophobic. Thanks to the PC's support, [[spoiler:Charles]] becomes brave enough to come out to his dad but still gets kicked out of the house, but he fights for LGBT+ rights in his good ending in the epilogue, looking to his sister for support (and also the PC if [[GayOption he marries him]] after years of on-again-off-again dating).]]

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', [[spoiler:Charles' route involves him coming to terms with his homosexuality and how it's affecting his political career. In high school, he comes out as gay to the PlayerCharacter when they catch him in crying in the bathroom after losing the elections. Then he comes over to their house to ask them for help in dealing with it because his sister caught him first and their father is homophobic. Thanks to the PC's support, Charles becomes brave enough to come out to his dad but still gets kicked out of the house, but he fights for LGBT+ rights in his good ending in the epilogue, looking to his sister for support (and also the PC if [[GayOption he marries him]] after years of on-again-off-again dating).]]

* ''WebVideo/AreTheyGay'': Alex often says that he finds the trope of a character having trouble coming out to be overdone and often feels disingenuous. Multiple videos have him bring up how he dislikes it and prefers stories where the characters are just gay and have other problems that come with being openly gay or just life in general.

** Elliot Page went through it twice. When he was still known as Ellen Page, he came out as being attracted to women and was considered a lesbian. Years later he came out as a transgender heterosexual man.

* Subverted by [[spoiler:Amity]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. Her falling in love with Luz hits all the usual beats: confusion, new feelings, etc., but because she comes from a society without LGBTQ+ discrimination, she struggles with falling in love for the first time, rather than falling in love with another girl. For her part, Luz appears to have been openly bisexual before she even got to the Demon Realm.

* Because of the GroundhogDayLoop that she is trapped in ''Fanfic/EakinsHardReset'', Twilight Sparkle does [[WhileRomeBurns a few interesting things]] knowing that the timeline would be reset again, and one of them being heading home to her parents in order to reveal that she is gay. [[spoiler:[[EverybodyKnewAlready Turns out her parents knew this]] and actually accepted her for it, [[IWantGrandkids with her mother interested in some medical techniques that can be implemented to have two mares produce a child together]]. This interaction motivates Twilight into getting back on track to escaping the Time Loop.]]

* ''Film/DatingAmber'': Amber is first to come out as a lesbian, with her mom reacted far better than she'd expected. Though stressed over this, her gay [[TheBeard fake boyfriend]]/friend Eddie is inspired to as well before the end of the film, with his family accepting him as well.