Paper short abstract:

This paper explicates the emotional dynamics of "coming out" as families of a LGB member in interior and exterior zones. The families' struggles were strongly affected by interaction norms in the interior zone. This paper claims to redefine what "coming out" means.

Paper long abstract:

Accepting one of a family members is a non-heterosexual (e.g. LGBT) is challenging for many family members, especially for parents. Research on parents of a LGB child has developed mostly in the Western psychoanalysis. They demonstrate the processes of parents' emotional and behavioral changes leading term to finally "accept" their children (LaSala 2010). Once parents accept their children, they start coming out as the parents of a LGB child. Parents' coming out is highly encouraged though this is a long-slow and step-by-step process for them (Griffin et al. 1996).

Interviews with family members in Japan were conducted between 2012 and 2015. They revealed that the most respondents went through emotional and behavioral changes to accept a non-heterosexual member like their US counterparts. The family members, however, struggled even after they accepted a LGB member because they were afraid of the eyes of others. This paper examines the causes of the families' struggles over coming out on behalf of a LGB member. In Japan, people are expected to behave appropriate to situations that requires them to negotiate according to whom they interact with, persons in uchi or soto zone. For the respondents, talking about a LGB member to others in uchi zone was more stressful. Some of them, however, did not hesitate talking about it in soto zone that they even attended a pride parade with a banner that makes the families visible in public. In the Western perspective, being visible in a public sphere could be considered more important than private one for both non-heterosexual individuals and their families to achieve equality. This paper claims that coming out in a uchi zone is even more important in the Japanese context to overcome homophobic and heteronormative environments. This concludes that the definition of "coming out" needs to be redefined.