Homosexual Identity Formation as a Developmental Process

Homosexual identity is conceptualized as a life-spanning developmental process that eventually leads to personal acceptance of a positive gay self-image and a coherent personal identity. Habermas' theory of ego development is utilized to provide a synthesis and understanding of the literature on the construction and maintenance of the homosexual identity. It is concluded that the homosexual identity generally emerges in a three-stage process in which the person progresses from: (1) an egocentric interpretation of homoerotic feelings to (2) an internalization of the normative, conventional assumptions about homosexuality to (3) a post-conventional phase in which societal norms are critically evaluated and the positive gay identity is achieved and managed. Developmental tasks associated with each stage are outlined in terms of their ego-integrative functions. Although the stages in the process of homosexual identity formation are theoretically the same for females and males, because of the paucity of research on the homosexual identity in females, this paper deals chiefly with males.