The Relative Impact of Identity on LGBT API Outness: A Quantitative Analysis

In the United States, the intersecting relationship among race, sex, gender, and sexuality plays a significant role in one\u27s identity development and socialization. Especially for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Asian Pacific Islander (API) individuals, such interplay presents a continuous task of processing and presenting different identities. Employing a national sample of over 500 LGBT API individuals and utilizing multivariate regression analysis, this thesis explores how LGBT API individuals\u27 sexual and racial identities affect their decisions in coming out to family, friends, co-workers, and other community members. Findings indicate that the level of discomfort in racial/ethnic and/or LGBT community settings is an important predictor of LGBT API outness. However, the impact of the importance of identity alone was negligible