All sexual minorities experience the closet – a period in which they recognize their sexual identity but have not disclosed it to significant others. This webinar, hosted by the Center of Excellence on LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity, positions the closet as a central experience of sexual minority development that can exert a powerful and potentially lasting impact on mental health, delineating the structural influences that shape one’s experience of the closet; the stressors that take place after one has become aware of their sexual orientation but has not yet disclosed it, which often takes place during the developmentally sensitive period of adolescence; and potential lifespan-persistent mental health effects of the closet. The webinar will conclude with a discussion on implications for structural and clinical interventions.