In the late twentieth century, outing became a common term for taking someone "out of the closet"—that is, publicising that someone is gay. The term can be use to refer to any publicising of a person's homosexuality without their consent, or only to cases where those doing the outing support gay rights, and object to what they see as the target's hypocrisy, rather than their homosexuality. The term can also be used more broadly to mean publicly disclosing other personal characteristics, such as political affiliation or religion, that someone wishes to keep secret.