When did you realize you were LGBT+?

Honestly its allot easier to type things when no one knows who you are. I was young, i always played with my aunts old barbies even though they where for my sisters who where younger. You know dressing them up making them go on dates with the ken dolls. I had some friends cross the way from my grandmas who would paint my nails and everything, Of course this was all when i was 7 and 8. Some of these behaviors where lost over time. I learned about my sexuality the worst way possible. When I was 12 I was assaulted by a man at my local gas station. I've always felt uncomfortable with myself up to this point but this was really the kicker, after that I down right hated my body,and I have ever since.
Thats really how i learned i was LGBTQ.

 

I always knew, even when I was really young.

The only thing I didn't know, was whether I was lesbian or bisexual. Took me up until I was 19 to realize that men would not be in the picture.

 

Right when I reached adolescence at 13, I realized I was Kinsey 6/exclusively gay instantly, and my feelings haven't changed at all since. Luckily, I accepted it right away and I liked the feeling.

 

I didn't always know. During puberty, I started questioning but since I also liked guys, I didn't really take it seriously. I thought those thoughts were normal for straight girls and I also was repulsed by the thought of being gay. So I pushed them away.

Over time, I started to educate myself more and more about all kinds of topics regarding equality and slowly changed my world view. At one point I started to watch videos about sexuality because I wanted to understand and be a good ally. That's when all those repressed thoughts started to become even more present with the difference that I had stopped being bothered by the thought of being gay. However, I still didn't really understand my sexuality until someone came out to me as bisexual and I asked questions. After that, it all made sense and it took only a few days until I accepted my sexuality. That was such a strange feeling because I always saw myself as a straight girl until shortly after I turned 18.

 

My fantasies had always involved women, but I never realized my sexual orientation was real and normal until I discovered the LGBT community online. That was around the beginning of highschool. Before then, I thought I was just playing myself.

 

I was 11 when I started to notice that I felt different. I had a crush on a girl and then I started noticing some same sex crushes. By the time I was 14, I started questioning my sexuality. I went through a gay "denial" phase. Then, at about 18 or 19, I came to the conclusion that I'm bisexual.

 

I guess for me it all started to add up when I turned 14. On my 14th birthday even. The day before my birthday I had spent hiding from bullies, after word got out that I might be bi (I thought I might be bisexual) and a group of kids/ teenagers didn’t take the news all that well.

Spoiler

One guy in particular took it quite badly, going as far as to spit at me once he found out, I think he might have had a crush on me, and since I told them that I wasn’t sure who I was attracted to and I didn’t know if I was bi but that I thought I might be, he may have had a hard time processing that there might be a chance I didn’t like guys that way.

Back then, I’d always assumed that I was either bi with a preference for the opposite sex or I was straight. I’d never really considered the possibility that I could be gay since I’d previously had a “relationship” with a boy who later came out as gay himself (around the time I came out, actually). Despite the fact that relationship was more of a friendship, I still thought it counted and that it must mean that I have at least some feelings for the opposite sex.

When I came out to this group, it caused some confusion. One girl asked me, “But how can you not know if you’re bi? Isn’t it obvious if you are or not?” which caused me to become more confused within myself. I mean, she had a point.

Why didn’t I know? After some introspection, I realised that perhaps the question wasn’t “Do I like girls, or am I straight?” it was “Do I like guys, or am I gay?”. I reflected on the crushes I’d had on girls and how they had made me feel, and I realised that chances are straight girls don’t get giddy at the idea of kissing the popular girl ect.

That’s when it hit me. I’d had all these feelings for girls, but never for guys before.

I’d always just assumed I liked guys, that being with a guy was just the done thing. Then, I considered my “relationship” with my friend, and how maybe most couples didn’t spend their time talking about braiding/plaiting hair and Girls Aloud. How perhaps other couples didn’t see physical intimacy as a core, that maybe they even enjoyed it.

I guess I always suspected that something might be up with our relationship, but I never really wanted to admit it to myself. I wanted it to work out for the sole purpose of “proving” to myself that I wasn’t gay, I could handle the possibility of being bi (reasoning that way I could still like girls but still had the possibility of getting with a guy in the long term) but I disliked the idea of being gay.

But when I sat down and actually thought about it, I realised that my “crushes” on guys had always been faked along with my supposed interest in various boy band members as a way of fitting in. I’d never really thought about why I pretended to like X member of whatever popular band, I just did.

I went swimming on my 14th birthday, and when I was swimming in a pool I realised I might be gay. When a friend of mine asked me if I even liked kissing my ex, this made it made me realise that I probably am gay. I went on to question a few times after that, but yeah... that’s pretty much it.

Short answer: At 14 years old.

I was bullied, and a question a girl asked me made me reflect on my feelings, making me go on to realise I’m gay along with a comment a friend made to me.

 

I knew I liked girls since I was 8-9 years old, maybe earlier, but since I liked boys as well I told myself I was straight. Later, I learned what bisexuality was, but I stayed firmly in denial until I was 13.

TL;DR: I always knew, but stopped repressing my feelings when I was 13.

 

I knew I was into girls for a long time. I didn't realize I was part of a minority group until I was twelve years old and watched all the girls get more interested in boys while I secretly got more interested in girls. Before that I just thought I was into girls because I was too young to like guys.

 

I didn't honestly know that being attracted to women was an option until I was in 7th grade so that was when I kind of started questioning things and realized that I was into women. Then, around my freshman year of high school I came out to my friends as gay and that's where I've been since.

 

For gender: For the longest time, I thought I was okay with being cis. I was neutral about being a girl and didn't really think much for it but when I used to go to church, it was so uncomfortable. I hate having to present as female as I didn't like to be known as a girl. At first I thought I was trans, agender or something but didn't think much of it as I thought I was just a tomboy. It kept bothering me and when I kept hearing others refer me as female, I think I just know that I probably wasn't cis. I tried out different labels to see who I really was such as agender, genderfluid but they didn't click with me as I just feel mostly masculine and love it when people refer me as male, calling myself a boy, just any masculine term would work to make me smile. Whenever someone refer me as male, it just made me happy like yes that's me.

For orientation: I was straight like had relationships with mostly guys but when I saw this girl in middle school, I had felt romantic feelings and I had never felt anything like that with girls. I thought I was only in love with guys but I guess not. This was before I was trans and honestly I thought I was bi but realized that label doesn't suit me as I'm attracted to not just male/masculine and female/feminine but to anyone that aren't necessarily male or female. For polyamorous, I saw someone on a different site that identified as that and I looked it up and at first I was thinking psh nah that doesn't suit me. I started having thoughts about being in multiple relationships and I actually like the idea. Ever since I wouldn't mind having more than one relationship.

 

Around 14/15 for certain but there were signs before.

 

I think I have always known I wasn't straight but at first I thought I was bisexual, it's only been in the last year or so that I've realised that I'm actually gay not bi

 

My story is similar, but I haven't figured out yet if I'm gay, pan or bi

 

With being trans, I always just sort of knew or had this feeling that I wasn't supposed to be a girl. Getting the confirmation of that hit me over the head when I was five or six.

Wit being queer/pan, I always had different crushes. I thought everyone was like that. When I was 11 or 12, I found myself in a weird situation where I simultaneously had a crush on three of my friends; which ended up prompting me to come out online as bi before I heard what pansexuality was a thing.

 

I always sort of knew something was going on with me but I never really knew what and honestly the journey for me wasn't an easy one. I went through a lot of thoughts before realizing I'm a lesbian. Guys just never did it for me. I was never able to be attracted to a guy and at first I thought I just wasn't interested in relationships in general. When I started to get older, and guys still didn't interest me I went through a period where I thought I might be asexual. I think I might just have been in some kind of denial because I never thought that maybe all of this was because I like girls. I just never thought of that option even though it's so obvious, I don't know why. It all got clear to me when I got my first crush on a girl and that's when I knew it. It suddenly all made sense. It felt right and I finally knew I was a lesbian. It was such a relieve to me to finally having found who I am.

 

For about an hour, when I was maybe fourteen, I thought I was gay. Then I realised that didn't make any sense to me, I'd found (and continue to find) men and women attractive, so either extreme of the spectrum wasn't (still isn't) a good fit for me.

I recently read one of my Mum's diaries from when I was about seven, I could tell from some of the things I'd says that I wasn't straight even back then.