Who was the first LGBT person you knew in real life?

My gay uncle, second his best friend (don't know if they're going out) but he has the same name that I do

 

It's my best friend.

She came out to me as lesbian first, then bisexual latter. Now, I know tons of LGB people (mostly girls). I almost feel like a magnet xD. Wish I knew some trans people, though.

 

It was my friend and I found out because he tried yo have sex with me.

It wasn't a great example of the community, but the rest of the people I know who are LGBT are lovely

 

A gay male who's one grade ahead of me. We were very good friends while he still lived in town. Unfortunately, he moved, but we still keep in touch.

 

Oh, I'm sure I've been 'meeting' them since childhood : Family members inside some closet, strangers, teachers... Who knows how many...

Gay and telling me openly 'I'm gay'? It was a friend of mine, male, as I was 20 or so. He kind of introduced me to some kind of lifestyle that not all gays are part of, but back then I found it a very interesting experience, I wish I could have been able to explore those things further, but oh well...

I've recently had my first contact with trans IRL... About a year or so.

 

A girl I met at school when I was 12.

 

A lesbian in my middle school.
Now I know literally too many to list. I feel like in my school, if you talk to the right people, you pretty much know all the gay people. Everyone has connections!
I don't know any real-life trans people, but I know plenty of non binary.

 

A girl on my sister's soccer team growing up had a mom who divorced her dad and had a female partner.

 

A boy in middle school, I think.

 

The first LGBT person I knew in my life was myself of course.

Other than myself, the first person I knew in real life who I also knew was LGBT was a guy who went to my college. I was going to a very conservative Catholic college because I was a very conservative Catholic. In that area was a local chapter of Courage, which was basically a meet up/support group for LGB Catholics who wish to adhere to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, which means being celibate or marrying someone of the opposite sex. He was my ride to that group.

I got better (no longer believe that I have to be celibate and abstain from masturbation to avoid going to hell), and I've met a few LGBT people under better circumstances later in life.

 

A former classmate from high school. She wasn't out yet, but we all sort of knew already. Last I heard of her, she got a girlfriend in university.

 

This senior at my school... He was the first gay guy I had ever known, and now we're really good friends.

 

Hmm... Well I live down the road from a gay couple. We moved here when I was 9 but I don't know when they moved in there. Also I have never interacted with them really. When I was 13 some boy in my year came out as gay and when I was 14 my best friend told me he was bi. In my last year we finally found proof that my favourite French teacher was a lesbian and she had been going out with one of the English teachers. And then when I was 16 the first friend I got at my new school turned out to be a lesbian. It was only a bit after that that lesbianism stopped freaking me out at all.

 

My best friend I suppose. I only know of four people in my life who have been openly LGBT+

The first was my best friend- we dated for a short while (it was more like a friendship really though) when I was questioning my sexuality and was sort of in denial at the time (all the fun stuff). Unknown to me at the time, the guy who I was with was also going through the same thing as me.

He'd said some slightly homophobic things in the past and I was expecting him to reply "lol, you can't be serious... you're kidding right?" and then out me when I came out to him. However, when I did come out to him via instant messaging I waited for a moment for his response. I was so damn nervous, I was terrified he would tell everyone (which did happen, but he wasn't the one who ended up telling people) and I immediately regretted the decision I had made to send that message. So when I saw a little 1 pop up over my notifications of a new message from him, I found it hard to even bring myself to read it. I was terrified but I knew I had to read it, I just had to.

But then I noticed in the notification that the beginning of the message started *It's ok (insert my nickname), I understand* I was so shocked and I still couldn't believe I'd sent that message. He responded by explaining how he was gay too, and it turned out we had both been off around each other because we felt bad for not telling each other the truth whilst being unaware that we were in the same situation. He agreed not to tell anyone as long as I didn't tell anyone about him.

I agreed, and we soon became close friends again. We had quite a few in-jokes about it, and I guess it was kind of fun feeling like we both shared this secret understanding. It was awkward when people would try and get us "back together" and we would often share a sort of knowing look that neither of us had to explain. He felt less guarded around me (and the few other people he was out to at the time) when talking about traditionally "feminine" things. I mean sure, he'd never exactly gone out of his way to act particularly masculine before, but he did feel insecure about his interest in make-up and his taste in music. Plus, the other guys would tease him for the fact that nearly all of his friends were girls.

It was hard trying to convince others that we were interested in each other when we were dating (mainly because we weren't, not in that way) and especially because I was quite masculine at the time and he was quite feminine so we often got some rather strange looks from others.

We bonded over music, the woes of straight crushes, and the worries about coming out. I never expected it to go this way, but in the end I'm actually glad I sent that message- it feels a lot easier now that we are more open and honest with each other, and I'm glad he's in a better position now and feels a lot more comfortable being himself. He's incredibly open about it now, and he's even flirted with guys before (who often end up being straight, but then we usually have a good ol' complain about how life isn't fair on the fact that we fall in love with straight crushes and I'll go on about straight girls and he'll go on about straight guys who'll never love us back and our bodies are stupid for falling in love with them).

Dammit, this wasn't meant to be a rant. I apologise. Why does this always happen? :lol:

 

A new guy at my school was very openly bisexual. He moved to the south west and turned out to be transgender.. to be honest, he was kind of a moron.

 

My neighbor.

 

I knew people from people from when my mom volunteered with the LGBTQ+ organization and this is where I first found out about this whole thing and realized that is what I am but I wouldn't really consider it as knowing them because I only went with my mom once but one of my best friends in 7th grade was a bisexual male. He just randomly started talking to us then started sitting with us then he just merged into our little group.

 

My ex friend during middle school. It was probably about a month and a half into the school year and she approached me to tell me that her friend had a crush on me. She then asked me if I was Gothic, and after that, we became good friends.

 

My older brother.

 

When one of my close friends came out to me as trans, and I realized I had been misgendering him for ages. Apparently one of my older friends was lesbian too, but moved away to Florida before she came out. Have to wonder if it's any better? I know they're both backwards states but eh.