| Researchers have identified numerous benefits to LGBTQ+ individuals who choose to disclose their sexual orientation to others, or more colloquially, ‘come out’. In the higher education setting, both students and faculty benefit from having ‘out’ instructors. Yet, instructors may face negative consequences when disclosing their sexual orientation to students, faculty, and administrators. Accredited counselor education programs are expected to recruit and retain diverse faculty and strive for representation in faculty choices(Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2016). Despite this complex relationship, little research has explored counselor education faulty members’ experiences of coming out in their programs. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009), a qualitative research methodology, will be usedto examine how individuals make sense of specific phenomenon, or life experiences. This study wasconducted to examine the experiences of gay male faculty members coming out to students inCACREP-accreditedcounselor education programs. Keywords: coming out, higher education, counseling, phenomenology |