How do other languages refer to the act of revealing one’s non-normative sexual identity? Is it just “coming out of the closet” translated into the local tongue (Do the Spanish say … saliendo del armario? The French … sort du placard? Or a different idiomatic expression?
Sortir du placard is what I’ve heard in French. I think they just adopted a calque of the (American) English expression.
In Texas, they say, “He’s from California.”
Tagalog has a different idiom, “ladlad ng kapa”, opening up and taking off a cape or cloak
*magladlad ng kapa
*“to unfurl the cape”
= to show one’s true colors
= to come out of the closet
*Nagladlad ng kapa ang basketbolista.
*The basketball player came out of the closet.
https://www.tagaloglang.com/ladlad/
The root word is “ladlad” with “magladlad” as infinitive verb, “paglaladlad” as participle, “Nagladlad” as past
“This act and/or process of affirming one’s gayness is called Coming Out, roughly translating into paglaladlad ng kapa (unfurling one’s cape).”
In Japan we call it カミングアウト(coming out), which is a transliteration of the English phrase. It’s mostly to refer to the act of homosexuals revealing their true sexual orientation, but it can also be used more generally like when somebody reveals a secret of a personal nature that might have caused them some embarrassment or awkwardness were the truth to be known.
Funnily, in German it’s a Denglish expression, “sich outen”, derived from “coming out” in English.
Spanish has also copied the English expression: salir del armario.
I’ve also heard se hizo entender: made themself understood. In Spain slang, someone who understands is someone who’s queer; making oneself understood means you got people to realize that you… understand. It’s a bit of a messy slang, because of course you’ve got people who… understand… and then you’ve got people who… don’t understand, really… but who understand. If y’all understand what I mean.
In Afrikaans, it’s “uit die kas te klim”, literally “climb out of the closet”.
But it’s not a common expression really, the “kom uit”/“uitgekom” (“come out”/“came out”) short form would be much more common. Or a non-metaphorical expression, even more likely.
It can be used in English that way, too.
In Mexico we are more likely to use anglicisms, we just say “salir del closet”.