Lithuanian gays and lesbians’ coming out in the public/ private divide: sexual citizenship, secrecy and heteronormative public
Lithuanian gays and lesbians’ coming out in the public/ private divide: sexual citizenship, secrecy and heteronormative public

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on the relationship between Lithuanian gays and lesbians’ coming out experiences and sexual citizenship. Analyzing Lithuanian homosexuals’ view of public/private divide, it asks how they perform their identities in public and private settings and how they align themselves with being public. What anxieties over citizenship and sexual boundaries are reflected in their life histories? The paper starts from the premise that “sexual citizenship” can be considered a fourth aspect of citizenship in addition to the traditional model of political, social and civic rights. Plummer (1995) conceptualizes it as rights to choose what people do with their bodies, emotions, relationships, gender identities and desires. This citizenship is related to the plurality of multiple and overlapping public discourses on intimacies. Diane Richardson (2000a) emphasizes the “right of identity” as a part of sexual citizenship. This right to have a public identity is particularly relevant when we speak of wider issues of secrecy and disclosure, discrimination and tolerance, and the private and public.

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