come out of the broom closet

English

Etymology

Coined by analogy with come out of the closet, with the proverbial hiding place being changed to a broom closet, a jocular reference to stereotype of witches riding brooms.

Verb

come out of the broom closet (third-person singular simple present comes out of the broom closet, present participle coming out of the broom closet, simple past and past participle come out of the broom closet)

1. (idiomatic) To publicly reveal that one is a Wiccan or some other type of neopagan.
   • 2005, Douglas E. Cowan, Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet, page 36:

     Second, despite constitutional guarantees of religions freedom and practice, and despite the rhetoric of tolerance with which religion in American society is cloaked, "coming out of the broom closet" and declaring oneself Wiccan or Witch remains a very risky act for many people, precisely because of the different cultures in which they reside.

   • 2006, Denise Zimmerman, Katherine Gleason, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, unnumbered page:

     In 1986, a federal appeals court ruled that Wicca is a legal religion. That means that the practice of Wicca is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Ever since the ruling, more and more Wiccans have "come out of the broom closet."

   • 2009, “Junior Crone”, in Arin Murphy-Hiscock, editor, Out of the Broom Closet: 50 True Stories of Witches Who Found and Embraced the Craft, unnumbered page:

     I cannot claim that I ever came out of the broom closet, because I didn't even know that I had the option of hiding in said closet when I began to self-identify as a Pagan at the age of seventeen.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:come out of the broom closet.