“Outsiders” is a returning term suggesting queer people have
not only been pushed away, but put away. The treatment of those who unsuccessfully
uphold social standards is, generally speaking, hostile and disapproving. Our hegemonic
heteronormative society forces homosexuals to publicly announce their sexuality,
which when AIDS and various factors are considered, segregates them. Despite
sex and sexuality being regarded as private matters, “intimacy is itself publicly
mediated, in several senses.” (Berlant, 2604). The blatant connotations of “the
closet” convey the suffocating restrictive environment in which a person can
hide from the rest. If and when they choose to come out of said closet, they
are forced remove themselves from the private space and admit intimate details which
are then into the public domain like an unnecessary public service
announcement, warning others of their presence.
