ORIGINAL PAPER Intercultural (Mis)Communication: Why Would You ‘‘Out’’ Me in Class? Sheena C. Howard Published online: 21 September 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract This paper conceptualizes Hopson’s notion of crash moments by exploring an intercultural interaction (between an individual who identifies as heterosexual and another who identifies as homosexual) within a graduate class- room by drawing on cultural schema theory and critical incident analysis. Ulti- mately, this paper deconstructs a communication breakdown through a self-reflexive process in which the researcher was ‘‘outed’’ (someone else disclosed the sexual orientation of a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered individual in a public set- ting) by a classmate—which the researcher deems as a problematic occurrence, making the incident critical and fitting for analysis within an intercultural com- munication context. This paper also considers the complexities of sexual identity negotiation as an African American female lesbian at a Historically Black College/ University. Keywords Intercultural communication Á Communication Á Sexual identity negotiation Á LGBT of color Á Black lesbian identity Á Cultural schema Á Autoethnography Á HBCU Introduction Coming out, also termed ‘‘disclosure’’, is a sexual identity recognition process culminating in a self-awareness of a gay, lesbian or bisexual orientation and/or the sharing of this information with others (Rosario et al. 2001; Diamond 2003; S. C. Howard Department of Communication and Journalism, Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ, USA S. C. Howard (&) 6035 Bingham Street, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA e-mail: drshoward@hotmail.com 123 Sexuality & Culture (2012) 16:118–133 DOI 10.1007/s12119-011-9112-3