In the largely heterosexual context of American society the process of revealing oneself as a homosexual or bisexual individual is termed "coming out of the closet." Coming out is, strictly speaking, a never-ending process, because there are always more people to tell.

However, coming out is commonly understood as the period of time in which individuals first begin to tell people about their sexuality Individuals generally make different decisions about which people in their lives they should tell about their sexuality according to their personal situation.