我们都知道“出柜”一词来自于英文表达come out of the closet，但是，研究发现，come out一词最早由同性恋团体使用时，它的意思跟现在并不相同。

　　"Coming out" has long been used in the gay community, but it first meant something different than it does now. "A gay man's coming out originally referred to his being formally presented to the largest collective manifestation of prewar gay society, the enormous drag balls that were patterned on the debutante and masquerade balls of the dominant culture and were regularly held in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, and other cities." The phrase "coming out" did not refer to coming out of hiding, but to joining into a society of peers. The phrase was borrowed from the world of debutante balls, where young women "came out" in being officially introduced to society.

　　“Coming out”这个表达一直在同性恋群体使用，但这个词的最初的意思跟现在的用法却有不同。“一个男同出柜一开始指的是正式参加战前男同团体举办的盛大集会。这 些集会规模庞大，可与主流社会举办的年轻上流女子聚会和化妆舞会相媲美，通常在纽约、芝加哥、新奥尔良、巴尔的摩以及其他城市举行。” “coming out”一词并不是指不再躲避，而是加入到自己的同伴之中。这个词是从上流女子舞会里借用过来的，当时年轻女子正式加入社交圈都称作“come out”。

　　There were other metaphors for the act of hiding or revealing homosexuality. Gay people could "wear a mask" or "take off the mask." A man could "wear his hair up" or "let his hair down," or "drop hairpins" that would only be recognized by other gay men.

　　另外还有一些其他表示隐藏或公开同性取向的隐喻词。同性恋者可以“带上面具”或者“脱下面具”。一个人可以“挽起头发”或者“放下头发”，又或者“脱下发夹”，这个动作只有其他男同看得出。

　　It is unclear exactly when gay people started using the closet metaphor, but "it may have been used initially because many men who remained 'covert' thought of their homosexuality as a sort of 'skeleton in the closet.'" It may also have come from outsiders who viewed it that way. It seems that "coming out of the closet" was born as a mixture of two metaphors: a debutante proudly stepping into the arms of a community and a shocking secret being kept in hiding. Now the community is the wider community, and the secret is no longer shocking."Coming out" is a useful phrase, but it need not imply a closet.

　　男同使用“出柜”一词作隐喻的确切时间并清楚，不过“它最初 开始使用时，是因为很多男士对他们的同性恋身份仍然保持着‘隐密'思想，认为这像是“见不得光的秘密”。它也可能是外面的人这样想像的。看起来“出柜”的 出现是两个隐喻词的汇合：公开参加同一群体的社交活动，以及一个隐藏着的惊人秘密。现在的同性恋群体更加壮大，而这个秘密已不再让人惊奇了。“出柜”是一 个有用的说法，不过并不暗指隐秘。