Looking back, were there signs pre-puberty?

lol. I blamed me being different and hanging out with girls on being smart too, but being smart I never really believed it. I knew I'm gay but I also knew I wasnt ready to accept it so I made up something else.

 

You know, I just remembered something: when you're little and you go to the doctor, sometimes they let you take a prize from some sort of treasure chest, and they'd have an assortment of things, like little toy throwing planes, and bouncy balls, etc. Well, I remember taking a glittery necklace once. It was plastic, just like a glowstick, except it didn't glow, it was just filled with colored liquid and sparkles. Not so much girly as flashy, I thought. But I remember I took it with me to my female-cousin's house, and my mom said that we should let her have it.

But it was mine and it had sparkles! One of my earliest memories was of me playing with a hot wheels car that was sparkly as well, and I could only speak in sentence fragments. I kept saying "sparkle car!". Could that be a sign?

 

At the time, I didn't think anything of it and didn't realize there were signs or differences or things like that.

Looking back, yep, the signs were so there, everything from the little crushes to some of the things I wanted to choose for toys (until everyone else saw and basically "corrected" me on that) to some other things and events. I mean, apparently they were there, since my mom says she's known since I was 12, and I came out at 25.

 

Well, looking back...

I had all the classic signs, even when I was a little boy. I never NEVER liked sports, was never very good at them... almost all my friends were girls... and when all us neighborhood kids would get together and "role-play" all kinds of characters like Star Wars and GI Joe, well I would always want to be.... Jamie Sommers, the Bionic Woman!!!!! OMG, did I just admit that???

Also, when I was about 7 or 8, I had a friend (a boy) who used to sneak random porn magazines from his dad or somewhere, and we'd look at them in our little fort out in the desert. I remember always being disappointed when the one he brought was like Playboy or Penthouse, just pinups of girls, but always LOVED it when he scored something more hardcore that actually showed sex. Why? Cuz the hardcore ones showed naked MEN! (it wasn't until puberty and middle school that I realized those feelings weren't "supposed to be"...)

 

They're only signs in retrospect.

Take my brother and me, for instance. I was quite the "label whore" in his teenage years. I was very neat, spent a lot of time trying to look good, and loved dance music. Whereas my brother was a sloppy dresser, liked sports, and listened to loud rock music. So were there "signs" that I was gay, and my brother was straight? Most people would say yes.

But what if I told you that *I* was the slob, and my straight brother was the label whore? Because that's how it actually was. Suddenly, the "signs" aren't signs anymore.

Lex

 

I definately was aware that something was different before puberty. I just didn't have a word to a way to say it. Needless to say those many sleepovers with my best friend always had that feeling of a crush...even though we were only 7 or 8 years old. She knew I was gay before I knew actually. Go figure.

 

The first time I can ever think if me having a distinction between boys or girls, as far as a sexual attraction, was about 7th grade, there was this really hot guy adjusting his toga, and I got that "fuzzy" feeling in my stomach. I just happened to be toga day for homecoming. I guess I should have realized it then that I was gay, but I was in Small Town, Iowa; catholic; and 13; all really good reasons not to be gay. But up till then, I was pretty much the same as any other boy, and I didn't think I was any different either.

 

It depends whether you're talking about stereotypical gender-related "signs", or signs like having crushes on the same sex. Which could be said to be reasonable signs

 

I've always noticed girls and guys. I was the only one that was like "so?" when others started teasing or saying ew when two girls got really close. I thought girls were cute and I thought guys were cute. I think I even had a crush on a girl who died of cancer and maybe thats why it was the hardest for me to get over it. I've never been homophobic and in 5th grade I experimented with a close girl friend. Then in the start of 7th grade I started questioning myself and I was fine with it and telling my friends by the end of 7th grade. Now in 8th grade everyone but my extended family knows. So yeah I guess I've always had signs, but I never really thought anything about it until 7th grade.

 

I wish I was like you! It sounds like you've handled everything so well. Although I wasn't homophobic, I worked so hard to ignore and suppress all the signs, so that I had myself convinced they didn't exist.

 

When I was five I used to follow guys into the changing room to catch a glimpse of their willies.

So I'd say yeah.

Lucas.

 

Minor signs, yeah. I always had crushes on girls though, up until about 9th grade.
I guess there were some minor feelings around 7th grade, but they intensified after puberty.

 

I kind of subconsciously knew.. But denied it badly. I used to dream of men and get erections when I was like 7.. And then by the time I was 12 I started looking up cute guys.. But all of this time never actually realised that I might be gay.

Then by the time I was a bit over 13 it kinda slowly crept into my mind that I might like guys. I guess because of that at first I hadn't felt upset much when I realised it. Though now, my sexuality is tearing me to bits. =/

I had never 'masturbated' as such until I was 14 though. I had a wet dream when I was 11, and I accidentaly came when I was 12 (I was itchy.. Kept scratching because it felt good and yeah. lol). So I don't know if you'd count that as masturbating.. But yeah.

So there were serious internal signs (looking back I feel as if my subconscious knew and was trying to tell me in a way) way before puberty.

 

I was always different when I was a kid. I played with action figures, never dolls or barbies. I know that's just a stereotype, but I was also gender confused. I grew up wishing I was a boy. At my age, it was the only thing I could think of that could explain the way I thought and acted.

 

I voted yes, before puberty I was attracted to guys.
I was just ignorant to what gay was, not exactly a topic that came up much in my house (well in a positive context that is).

I was more or less trying to figure out whether I was gay or bi. Not an ounce of straightosity in me. lol

 

i had crushes on guys as early as 9...

 

I remember when i was younger me and the neighborhood kids would hump each other. I don't know how young. But i remember liking girls before puberty and a little after puberty

 

yeah there definitely were! i didn't realize it then but you could tell. i was always a tom-boy and i never liked to dress up. i would rather go shooting or hiking with my dad than play dolls in the house. and i never really talked about guys that much. and now i like never talk about guys, i chopped all my hair off, and i'm not the most feminine girl at school but i'm not like butch or anything

 

I said yes. I didn't know what to call it but I always felt like I was different. Looking back now I remember feeling way too close to girls and my friendships with girls were a little too friendly on my end (even in preschool).

The lightbulb in my head didn't fully go off until I was 12/13 where I suddenly realized that hey these feelings mean this... and I finally put words to my feelings.

Even my parents said that when I was growing up there were signs and that is why my mom was not surprised at all when I came out because she "always knew" lol.

 

I didn't know then but looking at my childhood the signs are pretty obvious. I remember I used to watch wrestling and I enjoyed the fact that the wrestlers wore so little clothing. And one of the reasons why I loved watching The Power Rangers was to see the guys in those tights. I knew I loved it, I just didn't know WHY I enjoyed seeing stuff like that, lol.

I liked playing with dolls too.