1. You have to maintain an illusion for the people around you. You can not be honest; you must always have a watch dog running in your head, always alert to some accidental slip or mistake that will reveal the truth. You must always be on guard and can't simply relax.
   
2. You have to censor yourself. You can't answer questions or speak with openness. If someone says "What did you do last night?" and the thing you did last night is go out to a play party with your partner, you must lie, evade the question, or change the subject.
   
3. There are parts of yourself that you must bury far away from the people around you. Every part of yourself you keep secret undermines intimacy with those around you. You can not be intimate and also not reveal yourself; there will always be a limit to what you are able to share with those you keep secrets from.
   
4. You must compromise your own integrity by pretending to be something you are not, or by pretending not to be something you are. You can not be totally honest and also maintain your secret.
   
5. You give the world power over you. By treating some part of yourself as if it is a dirty, shameful secret, you empower and validate the people who believe that it is dirty and shameful. By keeping it secret, you are acknowledging that you believe it is something that SHOULD be kept secret.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I don't do closets; I'm claustrophobic.