Context is everything. On one level this song seems to be about advice giving, as an adult would to a child. But my suspicion is that this song is about an older wiser gay person advising a younger gay person about how to negotiate being in or out of the closet in the early 1980's. The hardest part of this negotiation is whether to be out or closeted. There are cautions and hazards on either side: staying in the closet means being untrue to yourself. Outing yourself might mean you have to sacrifice your carefully negotiated life, as mainstream society might not let you have it both ways.
Context is everything. On one level this song seems to be about advice giving, as an adult would to a child. But my suspicion is that this song is about an older wiser gay person advising a younger gay person about how to negotiate being in or out of the closet in the early 1980's. The hardest part of this negotiation is whether to be out or closeted. There are cautions and hazards on either side: staying in the closet means being untrue to yourself. Outing yourself might mean you have to sacrifice your carefully negotiated life, as mainstream society might not let you have it both ways.