How old were you when you knew about your sexuality?

I knew that I liked girls when I was 5 years old

 

I knew I was attracted to girls when I was 11 or 12. It was the same time I started being attracted to boys, too, actually. But I was only attracted to a couple of girls, mostly boys. Then over the next few years, my attraction to girls increased and my attraction to boys stayed the same for a bit, then decreased. So for a good while I identified as bisexual, but although I can still find men physically attractive, I'm not romantically or sexually attracted to them, and it's not that often that I find them attractive outside of an appreciative way, so I identify much more comfortably as gay.

 

15 and nine months! :icon_mrgr
It was after my friend's birthday so I can remember the exact date

 

20+

I didn't date anyone until I was in uni.

 

I moved from near London to Devon just before my 13th birthday, so I am able to date quite clearly my journey towards understanding my sexuality. I can remember at primary school (up to age 12) that I was part of a group of male friends who were all out of the mainstream - we were none of us exactly butch, although at the time we didn't see that, just that we disliked team sports and didn't socialise with the other boys. I often wonder now how many of us have turned out to be gay/bi/whatever. Getting to that point at age 12 had been a gradual process, just naturally springing out of my developing personality. I remember having tremendous crushes on one or two girls, and also my female teacher, but again they were the feisty girls, or girls that had a sexiness about them - I think I was becoming aware of sex as a potent and fascinating new thing, possibilities were opening up, and I was drawn to all aspects of it.
As I approached 13, at a bigger secondary school, I discovered pornography, and again was not specific about what I found most stimulating. Mostly it was straight, because back then that was what was easily available. I do remember finding a straight porn mag in my brother's room and finding the almost gynecological pictures a little scary! I came across an Art book of photos of nudes, and this seemed less agressive, and is my first memory of being aware of a growing interest in men.
About this time I started to notice an attraction to boys in my school - the sexy, slightly dangerous ones! I think this is the moment when I would say I was first sexually attracted to men. Several years later, when I was going public with my sexuality (by then it was easier as there were a lot more out gay pop stars -new romantics etc - and I had a boyfriend, so I was taken more seriously) I was often asked how I knew I was gay. My reply was always that it really was not about physically having sex, or even getting turned on. For me it was all about something in my brain that responded differently to men than to women - something that was connected to sensuality. Male physicality - the arm, the nape of the neck, the face, the hair - made my brain fizz, made me yearn to touch, and to look for affection. It did this almost arbitrarily, whereas a woman's body might be sexy or provocative, but it didn't provoke the same response or need to make contact.
I can remember at 13-14 watching episodes of "Soap" with a sexy gay character - Billy Crystal? - late at night in secret, so I guess by then the genie was out of the bottle for me, but I didn't do anything about it for another 3 years - I was 17 when I first had sex with a man - at that time illegally! It was fantastic, and very exciting, but it was also an entry into a new world of adults and a sub-culture that was frightening. I would say I was well into my 20s before I really felt I knew what I wanted and was comfortable with that.
Now I am nearly 50 -(can it be true?) - the sexual drive is less in control, but the brain fizz of attraction to men is still there, just as strong.
That's my story for what it's worth.
Good luck!

 

I started questioning when I was 13.

 

Well... only really began actually paying attention to you know the "feelings" a few months ago, and properly connecting them to you know my sexuality... but i've always found girls hot since I was in seventh grade.
But... you know when I was younger I totally didn't mind the idea of marrying my female best friend, in fact I actually questioned my mum about why I "couldn't" lol

 

questioned myself all through my early 30's...knew at 33

 

I wondered if I was asexual when I was 16, but I didn't start questioning myself until I was 20.

 

I was 19. I used to have erotic dreams about women when I was 4. During adolescence I tried to shun these emotions and developed internalized homophobia. I acknowledged these emotions when I was 19 after a series of dreams, continued fantasizing and crush on a female celebrity. I came out to my sister only to scare the hell out of her (yes, I didn't actually think I was gay) but ended up thinking about it. After a period of confusion, I knew I was gay.

 

I think I was about 12 when I sort of knew I was different, if you like.

Though I am attracted to guys, I can't stand seeing naked flesh (if that sounds strange - sorry!). I've never had any sexual encounters with a guy, but I do like the closeness, if you know what I mean.

 

about 10 when my first crush was a girl.

 

I feel like I kind of always knew, even from a really young age. I remember having crushes on boys throughout elementary school but I didn't think anything about it because I didn't even know what being gay meant. I finally really accepted the fact that I was gay when I developed a HUGE crush on a boy in my Spanish class last year.

 

I began questioning it when I started struggling with gender identity at age eleven, but wasn't really attracted to anyone until I was fourteen.

 

I didn't flat out admit to myself that I was a lesbian until I was 16, but I suspected it for a long time.
Girls in elementary school would talk about wanting to kiss boys and how cute they were, and it always made me want to vomit.
I didn't think liking girls was acceptable, so I didn't even consider the possibility until I went to a lesbian wedding for some of my godmother's friends, I think I was around 7 then... I wondered even more in my preteen years, but I heard a lot about homophobia and LGBT violence, so I tried to convince myself that I wasn't attracted to anyone and that I was in complete control of my sexual orrientation.
In my teen years, I started to question religion and became an agnostic. After awhile, I realized that if I don't want to be controlled by the religious extremists, I sure as hell can't let them brainwash me into thinking that sexual orrientation is something we can choose since science has long proven that to be false.

 

I'm 14 and I still have no freaking clue...

 

Puberty around 12 or 13. But I never was interested in boys other than friends and never imagined myself with one.

 

I realized that I wasn't straight about two years ago, when I was thirteen. I think that I had been expecting it for a long time but had just been completely denying it. I remember sometimes as a kid thinking "Why do people like guys instead of girls? Girls are prettier" but never actually putting it in terms of me liking girls. During the year of 2012 I finally realized 'wow girls' and decided to stop denying my sexuality. After only a few months I decided to come out to my mom as bisexual, but it might be different in my situation because my mom is lesbian. (Not that that meant I expected her to be completely okay with it either; she used to be pretty biphobic.)

I've only recently (within the past year or so) realized what my actual sexuality is. It was a bit different for me because since my sexuality changes with my gender (I'm homosexual no matter what, but the fact that my gender changes makes things complicated because I am only sexually attracted to the gender I identify with at the time) I had to realize my gender identity before I was fully able to realize my sexuality.

 

I definitely knew there was something "different" when I was 6 or 7, I realized I wasn't straight in my teenage years (would try to convince myself I was at least bi), and accepted the fact that I'm gay just like 4 or 5 years ago.

 

That's quite an answer for me to give because I first experienced attaction to the opposite sex when I was in Year 2 and then attraction to boys when I was in Year 3. My mind was very active in the beginning of thinking about both genders. I never knew about homosexuality thought as I had never heard it being spoken, nor saw it. It was foreign to me but it lucky for me at that age, it never bothered me.

When I was in my first year of high school, I felt ready to just let people know that I liked boys. By this time I knew about some issues of hate that some people had as I was at a Christian Brothers high school. I heard some kids speak but nothing much. Never really any hate.

I first saw the hate that year when I was watching the news where a strong LGBT community were protesting when the State Government of New South Wales at the time announced they were going to make homosexuality illegal again. I was just about say out loud, good on them, but right on cue, my eldest brother was there and he was so angry. He wanted them all in prison. So I held on my secret a little longer.

Then later on some months later, I was going to say about me without feeling fear when one of my other brothers realised I was liking boys when he walked in on me as I was masturbating while looking at a cover of a male singer. I had already experienced male/male sex that year and it was something felt incredibly natural. He told me that he was going to take me down to the park to meet girls but I refused.

While he kept it between us, he did later on give me a bloody good bashing for it. Several times actually so I went within myself. I'm 42 years old now and only just starting to feel comfortable with myself again and right on cue, the push to hate the LGBTQI people is back.

So to answer your question, I first knew from a young age and then rediscovering all these years later.

While I'm not out there, I don't think I'm overly in the closet. Just see it as my own business.