I think I saw a closet Brony

[Shenanigans]

Can we please not associate coming out of the closet with grown men liking a little girls' show? It's a very serious thing, not just someone liking a show they're not the target audience for.

Pinecone, the word closet doesn't have to have anything to do with homosexuality The word means "a state or condition of secrecy or carefully guarded privacy" or "secret and covert" so you could be a closet anything - meaning you're doing something you don't want anyone else to know about

Closet MLP collector - someone who collects MLP but doesn't want anyone to know.

[NoPonySpecial]

Can we please not associate coming out of the closet with grown men liking a little girls' show? It's a very serious thing, not just someone liking a show they're not the target audience for.

Sorry to comment again so quickly. The thing is, it's kind of hard NOT to associate it with "coming out of the closet." I mean, any time someone has an interest they don't think people will approve of and hides it, people will make the association. The fact that so many Bronies are also young men makes the association even more tempting.
You're right, though, the big difference is that liking a girls' show is a much less serious thing. But hey, in a perfect world, neither of these things would be issues, serious or otherwise. Sigh.
(Of course, some people would argue it's very similar. My Brony brother actually said it's like admitting you're gay, saying you like My Little Pony is not an admission to be taken lightly, which I think is really silly, but whatever.)

Basically, when people say "closet Brony" or "closet anything," they certainly aren't trying to be offensive.

Edit: ^What Shenanigans said!

[JigglesTheCat]

I'm half and half. I kinda walk around the toy isles as if I'm not interested, but if there is something rare or HTF or something, I squeal

I'm so jealous of you guys finding bronies nearby! There are so many Texan Arena members, yet I can't find a single one. :'C

[MnDancer]

I remember when I was 12/13 and I was embarrassed to be buying ponies. I'd often have a story made up in my mind, that I was buying it as a birthday present for a little sister or cousin or something. It was the last year they were selling G1s and I was convinced it was my fault they stopped selling them, because I didn't have the guts to buy them enough!

[Stuntmang]

Can we please not associate coming out of the closet with grown men liking a little girls' show? It's a very serious thing, not just someone liking a show they're not the target audience for.

Gonna have to agree with this. Considering I see being a brony equated with being gay WAY too frequently, this is a pet peeve of mine.

[Rosencrantz]

I remember when I was 12/13 and I was embarrassed to be buying ponies. I'd often have a story made up in my mind, that I was buying it as a birthday present for a little sister or cousin or something. It was the last year they were selling G1s and I was convinced it was my fault they stopped selling them, because I didn't have the guts to buy them enough!

YOU. You're the one who ended it! >:O Now I know who to blame after all these years.

[Pinecone]

Thing is, people can be murdered for being out of the closet (as gay or trans*, etc.)

It is not the same thing. It's kind of dismissive to throw liking a kids' show out as the same thing.

[Daiyuflower]

Thing is, people can be murdered for being out of the closet (as gay or trans*, etc.)

It is not the same thing. It's kind of dismissive to throw liking a kids' show out as the same thing.

But the expression "closet" doesn't have to be associated with homosexuality.  You could be a "closet" Red Sox fan or any number of things.  As an idiom, it probably predates any connection with "coming out of the closet" as we use it now.  I don't think the original poster meant to trivialize the struggles of LGBT people when she referred to the kid she saw as a "closet brony." 

[Stuntmang]

Thing is, people can be murdered for being out of the closet (as gay or trans*, etc.)

It is not the same thing. It's kind of dismissive to throw liking a kids' show out as the same thing.

But the expression "closet" doesn't have to be associated with homosexuality.  You could be a "closet" Red Sox fan or any number of things.  As an idiom, it probably predates any connection with "coming out of the closet" as we use it now.  I don't think the original poster meant to trivialize the struggles of LGBT people when she referred to the kid she saw as a "closet brony."

I realize they didn't mean to, but using "coming out of the closet" to refer to liking a kid's show is still a bad thing to do, regardless of intent. The original use doesn't matter now that it's linked with homosexuality, because coming out as gay is the meaning most attributed to it, and using it as an allegory for enjoying cartoons outside age or gender demographic still trivializes the struggle queers face to the level of bronyism.

[Koudoawaia]

Last week or the week before, I saw a young man wearing a shirt that had a simple outline of Rainbow Dash's head on it while I was coming in to work. On the way to my car after work one night, I heard a little girl say that her favorite pony was either Rarity or 'the princess pony' and last week on the way out of a restaurant, heard another little girl discussing which FiM character she'd be. Think it was Sweetie Belle she'd said. Today while I was paying for my wave 4 blind bag, the coworker ringing me up started singing the MLP theme and said he always has to when he sees that logo.

[Yurusumaji]

Can we please not associate coming out of the closet with grown men liking a little girls' show? It's a very serious thing, not just someone liking a show they're not the target audience for.

1. He was a teenager, not a "grown man".

2. While I understand where all this is coming from, the term "closet" is not exclusive for LGBT. You can be a "closet nerd", a "closet collector", a "closet fashionista". It can apply to anything people are secretive about and to tell someone what they are or are not insinuating is presumptuous. You've taken an innocent saying and turned it into something it isn't.

[hathorcat]

Lets keep on the original topic please...

I would love to hear other experiences people have had either in being super enthusiastic or understandably cautious about buying ponies.

[Diamond]

I dunno I keep my clothes in my closet and have no issue at age 52 buying ponies.

[Oneleo1]

time to get this thread back on track. This is not a discussion regarding the term being in the closet. Thanks!

[APPLBL00M]

I'm a 24 year old guy and when I first started buying pony toys sometime last year I was just as nervous, so I can totally relate. I vaguely remember my first buying experience. I waited until no one was in the pony aisle, then I cautiously walked over to the pony section and grabbed one as fast as I could. I just held it down with the front facing toward me and my hand over the pony on the back. The most embarrassing part was when I got to the register. I just wanted to get it over with and hoped the cashier didn't say anything. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. I just kept my mouth shut, paid, and got out of there.

The second time wasn't nearly as bad. After I realized that no one seemed to care what I was buying, I was less embarrassed. Eventually after buying so many ponies and no comments whatsoever, the embarrassment went away altogether. Now, I often wear pony shirts when buying ponies and walk down the pony aisle like I would any other, whether anyone's there or not. In fact, yesterday I was looking at the plushies in Walmart and they were on the bottom shelf so I was knelling down inspecting each one to see which one I wanted. At that time an older lady walked over and started looking at something and I just stayed there until I found the one I wanted. I was secretly hoping she would say something, actually. I'm eagerly awaiting the day that either I meet a fellow brony or someone makes a comment about me buying ponies.