Of course, “gay” was ultimately “ outed” when the gay rights movement adopted it following the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969. The term “gay” was originally borrowed from the slang of women prostitutes, when they used the word to refer to women in their profession. King” or “gay” – that could be used in mixed company to designate someone as homosexual. Such selective sharing relied on code phrases – such as “family,” “a club member,” “a friend of Dorothy’s,” “a friend of Mrs. It did not mean revealing it to the world at large. In this context, coming out meant acknowledging one’s sexual orientation to oneself and to other gay people. The Mattachine Society, the earliest important organization of what was known as the homophile movement – a precursor of the gay rights movement – took its name from mysterious medieval figures in masks. In response, gay life became more secretive. The 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s witnessed a growing backlash against this visible gay world. A 1931 news article in the Baltimore Afro-American referred to “the coming out of new debutantes into homosexual society.” It was titled “1931 Debutantes Bow at Local ‘Pansy’ Ball.” Gay men spoke of “coming out” into gay society – borrowing the term from debutante society, where elite young women came out into high society.
