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Further implications
There appears to be agreement that gays (whether celebrities or otherwise) may find they can live more satisfying lives once their sexuality it generally known. Research conducted in the United States by the Pew Research Center in 2013 indicated that the vast majority of LGBT respondents (86 percent) say they have told one or more close friends about their sexual orientation or gender identity. And some 54 percent say all or most of the important people in their life know that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. However, the gay individual's ongoing life satisfaction seems to significantly depend on how well their sexual orientation is socially accepted.
It has recently been noted that gay people in Britain, whether 'out' or not, experience lower levels of satisfaction with their lives than heterosexual people. The reason offered for this was their experience of discrimination. Some 12 percent of all hate crimes in England and Wales in 2015 to 16 were related to sexual orientation, according to Home Office figures, with 7,194 sexual orientation hate crimes recorded.
High though this figure is, the extent of these crimes is under-acknowledged as victims often do not report them. It is estimated that only a quarter of people who are victims of hate crimes go to the authorities. The situation is similar in the United States, where hate crimes based on sexual orientation, race or ethnicity are believed to be dramatically under-reported. One of the primary reasons suggested for this is that where hate crimes are reported they are often not successfully prosecuted. Victims, therefore, see little reason to subject themselves to the ordeal of reporting the offence against them if there is likely to be no effective action taken against their abusers. Perhaps, not surprisingly, gay people surveyed in the United States have also revealed lower levels of life satisfaction than heterosexual people. The Pew Research Center has indicated, 'When they are asked, in the most general terms, how happy they are with their life overall, LGBT adults are less upbeat than the general public. Only 18 percent of LGBT respondents say they are very happy compared with 30 percent of the general public. About two-thirds (65 percent) of LGBT respondents say they are pretty happy and 16 percent say they are not too happy. Among all adults, 57 percent say they are pretty happy and 13 percent say they are not too happy.' The question of whether gay celebrities should be outed is, therefore, a complex one. Though there may be some psychological value for those who are outed in being able to live more authentically, ongoing encounters with hostility and verbal and physical abuse is likely to reduce the benefits that can come from publicly acknowledging one's sexuality. The situation appears to have become more problematic for gays in Australia over the last few years. Gay-hate crimes in Victoria have seen a sharp upturn in 2019 - 2020, with the problem becoming especially pronounced during lockdown. In 2014, the number of such offences climbed to 102, before dropping the next year to 87. Anti-gay hate crime offences then maintained their upward trajectory from 2016 onwards (160), except for 2018 when they fell to 79. For the other years, the annual number of gay-hate offences were 102 (2017) and 121 (2019). Data from the Crime Statistics Agency revealed that in 2020 around 148 offences were registered with the classification 'Prejudicially Motivated Crimes - Sexual Orientation'. More than half of the offences were registered during the state's COVID-19 lockdown.
As in the United States, Victorian authorities have been accused of not handling such crimes effectively. Nevena Spirovska, co-convenor of the Victorian Pride Lobby (VPL), has stated, 'There is a need for Victoria Police to improve its data collection on prejudice-motivated crime and to include prejudice motivation in sentencing submissions. The Government must also urgently enact laws to protect LGBTIQA+ Victorians from hate-based conduct, as recommended by the parliamentary inquiry into anti-vilification protections.' There are two main reasons why gay people might be reluctant to have their sexual orientation revealed. Either they have internalised the negative attitudes to homosexuality of some of those within their society or they are fearful of the hostility and abuse they may encounter. It is tempting to see the apparent acceptance of gay marriage in many jurisdictions around the world as indicating that Western society has largely accepted homosexuality.
However, the prevalence of gay hate crime in Britain, the United States and Australia indicates that such acceptance is not total. Interestingly, in a recent United States Supreme Court ruling removing Constitutional protection for women's right to access abortion, one of the judges suggested that homosexuality and same sex marriage may also not be constitutionally guaranteed. Ultimately, it seems that the individual must be able to decide when and if they wish to make their sexual orientation public. The motivation to 'out' people is sometimes well-meaning; however, it must be up to the individual to decide whether the benefits outweigh the significant risks involved.