Reprinted from  One World, the newsletter of the International Stuttering Association:

Passing Twice - a network linking the resources of the gay community to the stuttering community

By Warren Brown

The term "stuttering closet" has been heard increasingly over the last few years. It refers to the behaviour of people who try to hide their stuttering.

The term is similar to the idea of the "gay closet" - the kind of behaviour that some gay men, lesbians and bisexuals indulge in to hide their homosexual activities from society.

Indeed, the idea of a stuttering closet resulted from a gay workshop at the Third International Convention for People Who Stutter in San Francisco, on August 15, 1992. Ten people were present. Seven were gay. The person who ran the workshop had no structure or preconceived notions of where things would end up. Each person was given time to introduce themselves. What followed was a discussion on the similarities between being gay and being a person who stutters.

As the workshop participants talked about coming out of the gay closet, the realisation grew that people who stutter need to come out of the stuttering closet. We need to be open with people about our stuttering. We have to face the fact that we do stutter in some situations. We need to accept that stuttering is part of us. We need to stop hiding our true personalities.

From this workshop, a movement has grown. It looks to the gay community to find strategies to overcome problems faced in the stuttering community. It calls itself Passing Twice. The name refers to the way gay, lesbian and bisexual people who stutter have tried to "pass" in society.

The gay community has much to teach the stuttering community. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people have struggled over the last 40 years to gain visibility and acceptance. During that time, many Western countries have repealed laws that banned homosexual love and have sought to outlaw discrimination against those in the gay community.

Only a few decades ago, most people believed that homosexuality was a psychological condition that needed curing. The strategy that gays and lesbians took to overcome this impediment was to come out of the gay closet.

Yet some people still believe that stuttering is a psychological condition that needs curing. The strategy that gay and lesbian people who stutter have come up with to overcome this impediment is to come out a second time - as people who stutter.

It is true that the stuttering community hasn't collectively had to face its equivalents of the Stonewall Riots, unprovoked bashings or an HIV-AIDS crisis. The gay community has had to become more politically aware to survive such hostility.

But people who stutter do face issues that can only be resolved politically - the lack of resources for treating stuttering, the ridicule that some of us face when we speak and the discrimination that some of us face as we try to achieve our dreams at school and in the workplace. The gay community can provide skills, strategies and inspiration for people who stutter.

That is why it was so important that Passing Twice was recently accepted as a member of the International Stuttering Association. Passing Twice can bring a new perspective to issues involving stuttering. It can bring a more political way of doing things. It can energise people to reach their full potential by leaving the stuttering closet.

Passing Twice has nearly 200 members, mainly in North America, Europe and Australasia. Only about half belong to their national association for people who stutter. Members are linked through a quarterly magazine and many are also linked through e-mail. Recruitment has mainly been through workshops held at conferences on stuttering and through the Passing Twice website on the internet here

By Warren Brown