--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Instead of The Closet, I’d like to…" description: "\"“Instead of The Closet, I’d like to propose a more humane metaphor. What if we talk about queer/trans people “coming out of our shells”? When you think..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/jacob-tobia-96214_coming-out-of-the-cl_instead-of-the-closet-i-d-like-to-propos_1695712.jpg" --- # Instead of The Closet, I’d like to propose a more humane… ![“Instead of The Closet, I’d like to propose a more humane metaphor. What if we talk about queer/trans people “coming out of our shells”? When you think about it, us queers are a lot like garden snails anyway. We love flowers. We have beautiful, curly shells. We are slimy and understand the power of…” quote by Jacob Tobia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/jacob-tobia-96214_coming-out-of-the-cl_instead-of-the-closet-i-d-like-to-propos_1695712.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/jacob-tobia-96214_coming-out-of-the-cl_instead-of-the-closet-i-d-like-to-propos_1695712.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/jacob-tobia-96214_coming-out-of-the-cl_instead-of-the-closet-i-d-like-to-propos_1695712.jpg) > ““Instead of The Closet, I’d like to propose a more humane metaphor. What if we talk about queer/trans people “coming out of our shells”? When you think about it, us queers are a lot like garden snails anyway. We love flowers. We have beautiful, curly shells. We are slimy and understand the power of proper lubrication. We leave a shiny, glittering trail wherever we go. And did you know that most snails are gender-neutral and play both “male” and “female” roles in procreation? That many snails change gender multiple times throughout the course of their lives?”” Jacob Tobia ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The metaphor likens queer/trans identities to snails, emphasizing fluidity, beauty, and non‑binary nature. **In simple terms:** Queer identities are fluid and beautiful like snails. Key Takeaway Celebrate fluidity and self‑acceptance. Themes identity fluidity metaphor LGBTQ+ nature Mood hopeful playful thoughtful Type Coming out of the closet:1 Metaphor:1 Transgender:1 Love Flower:0 Trans People:1 Snails Gender:1 Think Queers:1 Shells Think:1 Talk Queer:0 When to use this quote - pride events - education - personal storytelling - media representation Key Concepts gender fluidity non‑binary identity self‑acceptance visibility community Questions to Reflect On - How does this metaphor change your view of gender? - Can humor help in serious identity discussions? A Different Perspective Some may find the metaphor trivializing or overly whimsical. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Coming out of the closet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coming-out-of-the-closet/) [Metaphor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphor/) [Transgender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transgender/) ## Related quotes > [“The truth has a way of coming out of the closet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/march-lions/the-truth-has-a-way-of-coming-out-of-the-closet/) [March Lions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/march-lions/) > [“Dude, the whole Drake coming out of the closet routine is getting old. Get some new material. ~ Drake”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-turner/dude-the-whole-drake-coming-out-of-the-closet-routine-is-getting-old/) [Jennifer Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-turner/) > [I got tired of reading that everybody was either coming out of the closet or they were abused or had some kind of substance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-farr/i-got-tired-of-reading-that-everybody-was-either-coming-out-of-the/) [Jamie Farr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-farr/) > [Coming out of the closet as a gay man didn't cost me anything, but deep down it wasn't who I was. It was only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lux-pascal/coming-out-of-the-closet-as-a-gay-man-didn-t-cost-me-anything-but/) [Lux Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lux-pascal/) > [“Here's a queer fact: none among the skeletons in your closet are ‘straight’ so expect them to ‘come out’ very, very soon...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khayri-r-r-woulfe/here-s-a-queer-fact-none-among-the-skeletons-in-your-closet-are/) Khayri R.R. Woulfe > [“But thats their image of us so we stay tense, holding our breath, hoping we wont be found out. - about being gay from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ebine-yamaji/but-thats-their-image-of-us-so-we-stay-tense-holding-our-breath/) Ebine Yamaji > [“ The closet implies a literal, physical boundary dividing one’s life before publicly declaring queerness, and after. It’s a threshold impossible to recross, two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-perry/the-closet-implies-a-literal-physical-boundary-dividing-one-s-life/) Grace Perry > [“I'm finally coming to terms with the unalloyed insanity of being a writer. Now that's coming out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-k-kuykendall/i-m-finally-coming-to-terms-with-the-unalloyed-insanity-of-being-a/) [A.K. Kuykendall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-k-kuykendall/) > [My mother was wonderfully out about her dementia. She would sort of - she would say to me, I came out to the window…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-donoghue/my-mother-was-wonderfully-out-about-her-dementia-she-would-sort-of/) [Emma Donoghue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-donoghue/) > [“If you will it, it's not a dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-herzl/if-you-will-it-it-s-not-a-dream/) [Theodor Herzl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-herzl/) > [“Sometimes people tell me they don’t want to label themselves by their sexual orientation. I used to reject my gay identity. In fact I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-venn-brown/sometimes-people-tell-me-they-don-t-want-to-label-themselves-by-their/) [Anthony Venn-Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-venn-brown/) > [“The true ugliness of the closet is its subtlety. It eats away at your soul bit by bit and you don't even realize it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gar-mcvey-russell/the-true-ugliness-of-the-closet-is-its-subtlety-it-eats-away-at-your/) Gar McVey-Russell > [“Denying what you are didn't keep people from knowing what you are." "And flaunting it isn't what saved you." Ykka takes a deep breath.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-k-jemisin/denying-what-you-are-didn-t-keep-people-from-knowing-what-you-are-and/) [N.K. Jemisin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-k-jemisin/) > [“He plants himself right there in front of Craig’s mother and says, “You need to love him. I don’t care who you thought he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/he-plants-himself-right-there-in-front-of-craig-s-mother-and-says-you/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [I am not in the closet. I am not coming out of the closet. I am not gay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oprah-winfrey/i-am-not-in-the-closet-i-am-not-coming-out-of-the-closet-i-am-not-gay/) [Oprah Winfrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oprah-winfrey/) ## More by Jacob Tobia > [“I understood intersectionality—the way that white supremacy props up patriarchy props up poverty props up environmental destruction props up white supremacy again—on a gut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-tobia/i-understood-intersectionality-the-way-that-white-supremacy-props-up/) Jacob Tobia Explore all 2 Jacob Tobia quotes ## More Coming out of the closet quotes > [“The truth has a way of coming out of the closet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/march-lions/the-truth-has-a-way-of-coming-out-of-the-closet/) [March Lions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/march-lions/) > [“He plants himself right there in front of Craig’s mother and says, “You need to love him. I don’t care who you thought he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/he-plants-himself-right-there-in-front-of-craig-s-mother-and-says-you/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“Denying what you are didn't keep people from knowing what you are." "And flaunting it isn't what saved you." Ykka takes a deep breath.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-k-jemisin/denying-what-you-are-didn-t-keep-people-from-knowing-what-you-are-and/) [N.K. Jemisin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-k-jemisin/) > [“The true ugliness of the closet is its subtlety. It eats away at your soul bit by bit and you don't even realize it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gar-mcvey-russell/the-true-ugliness-of-the-closet-is-its-subtlety-it-eats-away-at-your/) Gar McVey-Russell > [“Sometimes people tell me they don’t want to label themselves by their sexual orientation. I used to reject my gay identity. In fact I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-venn-brown/sometimes-people-tell-me-they-don-t-want-to-label-themselves-by-their/) [Anthony Venn-Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-venn-brown/) > [“If you will it, it's not a dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-herzl/if-you-will-it-it-s-not-a-dream/) [Theodor Herzl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-herzl/) > [My mother was wonderfully out about her dementia. She would sort of - she would say to me, I came out to the window…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-donoghue/my-mother-was-wonderfully-out-about-her-dementia-she-would-sort-of/) [Emma Donoghue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-donoghue/) > [“I'm finally coming to terms with the unalloyed insanity of being a writer. Now that's coming out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-k-kuykendall/i-m-finally-coming-to-terms-with-the-unalloyed-insanity-of-being-a/) [A.K. Kuykendall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-k-kuykendall/) > [“ The closet implies a literal, physical boundary dividing one’s life before publicly declaring queerness, and after. It’s a threshold impossible to recross, two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-perry/the-closet-implies-a-literal-physical-boundary-dividing-one-s-life/) Grace Perry > [“But thats their image of us so we stay tense, holding our breath, hoping we wont be found out. - about being gay from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ebine-yamaji/but-thats-their-image-of-us-so-we-stay-tense-holding-our-breath/) Ebine Yamaji > [“Here's a queer fact: none among the skeletons in your closet are ‘straight’ so expect them to ‘come out’ very, very soon...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khayri-r-r-woulfe/here-s-a-queer-fact-none-among-the-skeletons-in-your-closet-are/) Khayri R.R. Woulfe > [Coming out of the closet as a gay man didn't cost me anything, but deep down it wasn't who I was. It was only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lux-pascal/coming-out-of-the-closet-as-a-gay-man-didn-t-cost-me-anything-but/) [Lux Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lux-pascal/) > [I got tired of reading that everybody was either coming out of the closet or they were abused or had some kind of substance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-farr/i-got-tired-of-reading-that-everybody-was-either-coming-out-of-the/) [Jamie Farr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-farr/) > [“Dude, the whole Drake coming out of the closet routine is getting old. Get some new material. ~ Drake”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-turner/dude-the-whole-drake-coming-out-of-the-closet-routine-is-getting-old/) [Jennifer Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-turner/) > [I am not in the closet. I am not coming out of the closet. I am not gay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oprah-winfrey/i-am-not-in-the-closet-i-am-not-coming-out-of-the-closet-i-am-not-gay/) [Oprah Winfrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oprah-winfrey/) [Browse all 55 Coming out of the closet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coming-out-of-the-closet/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Instead of The Closet, I’d like to propose a more humane metaphor. What if we talk about queer/trans people “coming out of our shells”? When you think about it, us queers are a lot like garden snails anyway. We love flowers. We have beautiful, curly shells. We are slimy and understand the power of proper lubrication. We leave a shiny, glittering trail wherever we go. And did you know that most snails are gender-neutral and play both “male” and “female” roles in procreation? 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