It Takes a Family: An Examination of Outness Among Black LGBT People in the United States

Black family structures, dynamics, and processes in the United States have had a long history of investigation in the social sciences. And recently, research on sexual orientation disclosure has become an important feature of the scholarship on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations. The various ways in which the family affects a person's decision to be an out LGBT person, or outness, are less known. Using a national sample of Black LGBT people (N = 2,166), this article assesses the relative importance of a variety of characteristics in understanding outness levels. Regression modeling reveals that having family support is the strongest predictor of outness for Black LGBTs. Two other predictors include the belief that one's sexual orientation is an important part of one's identity and having a connection to the LGBT community. The significance of these findings is discussed regarding future research with Black LGBT populations.