Latino gay men’s disclosure of sexual identity to their fathers: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Although there is a large body of knowledge on the coming-out experience, only few studies examine the coming-out experience of Latino gay men in the United States and whether cultural norms in the Latino community influence the way fathers respond to their sons’ disclosure of same-sex attraction. The author conducted a systematic review to identify studies that focused on the coming out experience of Latino gay men in the U.S. The author searched ProQuest, PsychINFO, and Social Work Abstracts, using search terms including LGBT, gay or homosexual, Latino or Hispanic, coming out or disclosure, father or parents, or family. Findings revealed that cultural norms influenced the coming out process for most Latino gay men in the studies, resulting in negative health outcomes. Limitations, as well as implications for practice and research were discussed in this article.

KEYWORDS:

• Latinos
• cultural norms
• coming out
• systematic review
• fathers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).