---
title: "Personal Milestones in the Coming Out Experience"
description: "The Pew Research Center’s survey of 1,197 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults asked respondents about three key points in their coming out journey."
date: "2013-06-13"
authors:
  - name: "Mark Hugo Lopez"
    job_title: "Director, Race and Ethnicity Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/mark-hugo-lopez/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/06/13/the-coming-out-experience-age-when-you-first-thought-knew-told/"
categories:
  - "Family & Relationships"
  - "Same-Sex Marriage"
  - "Same-Sex Marriage"
---

# Personal Milestones in the Coming Out Experience

The Pew Research Center’s [survey of 1,197 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/) asked respondents about three key points in their coming out journey—when they [first felt](#first-thought) they might be something other than straight or heterosexual, when they [knew for sure](#first-knew) they were LGBT and when they [first told](#first-told) a close friend or family member. The distribution of survey responses for each key point, along with medians, is shown below.

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![ST_13.06.13_LGBT_FirstThought](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/06/ST_13.06.13_LGBT_FirstThought.png)

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![ST_13.06.13_LGBT_FirstKnew](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/06/ST_13.06.13_LGBT_FirstKnew.png)

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![ST_13.06.13_LGBT_FirstTold](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/06/ST_13.06.13_LGBT_FirstTold.png)