Transparent Closet

Transparent Closet seems to have two definitions:

1. From the first paragraph of the description: Alice is a lesbian, and everyone seems to know this but Alice. Anyone who even suggests to her that she might be into girls gets a prompt rebuff and a too-emphatic statement of Alice's heterosexuality. If she finally does come out of the closet, no one will even pretend to be surprised.
2. From the second paragraph: This sometimes also falls under Open Secret, where Alice is basically open about her sexuality and/or gender identity, but for whatever reason (often fear of some form of legal or employment discrimination) won't confirm it directly.

The first description seems to require the entire thing to be in-universe ("Alice" needs to deny in-work about their LGBT nature and the rest of the cast needs to proceed as if they're LGBT despite their denials).

The second, though, seems to be a sort of audience reaction to me—"Alice" acts completely LGBT in the open but just doesn't literally confirm their orientation/identity. Not to mention, I have also seen there's a type where the "Alice" does not think they're in the closet since they'll happily confirm it when asked, but doesn't see any need to broadcast it unless necessary.

So are we seeing one trope, or two tropes under this title?

The second bit you quote doesn't read like it's trying to be an audience reaction to me, though it probably would be in practice; it's saying Alice has in-universe reasons not to come out of the closet (even though she otherwise acts like she is).

Edited by MorganWick on Apr 1st 2024 at 1:15:58 AM