When did you learn the word gay?

I told my dad about it, and he told me about a certain Greek Island.

 

Oh god, I don't know why I burst out laughing at "Lesbos in the North Aegean" in that article.

Reminds me of the South Park lesbian bar "Les Bos".

 

fifth grade...I think

 

I was never exposed to it at home,
Not because my parents were against it or anything,
More that they wanted me to be a kid and ignore being "sexual" for a longer while,
Can't blame them(If anything It did my favors).

Learnt it at school when I heard one boy call another gay,
Proceeded by him saying the other is "Such a twink" haha

Loads of explaining my mother had to do!

 

I believe I first heard it at age 5 when my relative said in reaction when I told him I did not like any girls but I liked guys, I did not know he'd turn it into a funny joke and did not understand until I got older and realized what it meant because I was young and did not have an interest in romance, at that point when I did; I was pretty sure I was not gay; but nowadays my certainty has been a bit shaken up.

 

In sixth grade girls were talking dirt about these two girls who were sharing a drink (not even in a romantic way) and someone had to explain to me what "gay" meant...too bad it was considered a gross thing. :/

 

Gosh I feel like I was a late bloomer in several things. I had first heard the word gay when I was 8 and it was tossed around as an insult in a phrase I'm sure we're all familiar with. That and other homophobic slurs. I would hear such phrases EVERY week as a kid. I didn't associate it with homosexuality until I was in middle school...say..7th grade? And that was also the time I had come across the term Lesbian. I hadn't learned any more LGBT terms until I was 15 or so. I started exploring them because I had been accused of being gay or a Lesbian (I have never been in a relationship to date)...which ironically is true now xD.

 

Strangely enough, when my mom introduced me to a close friend of hers when I was 10. She made no attempt to hide it from me, as I was over at his place a lot and noticed how he was around men as well as his effeminate nature. And even though I did have to contend with internalized homophobia later on in life, it never really changed my opinion of him.

The concept of lesbianism, on the other hand, was not introduced so kindly to me, which may be why I later had such a problem in being honest with myself.

 

Back in intermediate school, some asshole called me and one of my friends gay, which he wasn't, so I think I was about 11 or 12.

 

I was eleven and it was because we had a gay teacher.

 

If you don't count learning the word "gay" from Christmas carols... =p

Then my best guess would be from 6-12 years of age. I really don't remember, so it must have been quite a long time ago.