How old were you when you knew you were gay

Thanks, dad. Exploring my gender and sexual identity has given me energy and freedom.

John Walter ⭐Feb 21 · 6 min read [First published in The Ascent on Medium]

Is it possible that we are all one of a kind? That gender and sexual self are as individual as our fingerprints or the patterns of our irises?

My father took my face in his hands, kissed me on the lips and said:

“I always knew you were gay, but we support each other, that’s what family do.”

I was 62, and he was almost 90. He died shortly afterwards and was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Unfortunately, I could not follow up that conversation.

Identity in terms of gender and sexuality has never been as easy as male/female, gay/straight binary divisions.

Among historical figures, some were recorded as having relations with others of their have sex — exclusively or together with opposite-sex relations — while others were recorded as only having relations with the opposite sex. However, there are instances of same-sex love and sexuality within almost all ancient civilizations. Additionally, people who are third gender or what we would now think of as int

LGBTQ+ Adults Are Coming Out at Younger Ages Than in the Past

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today’s young Diverse Americans report having arrive out nearly a decade earlier than LGBTQ+ seniors, reflecting societal shifts in greater acceptance that Homosexual adults report having seen over the past decade. Despite this increased acceptance, about one in four report experiences of discrimination in the past year.

These new findings -- from a probability-based Gallup Panel™ survey of gay, woman loving woman, bisexual, transgender adults and those who identify as something other than non-heterosexual or cisgender, conducted online May 1-15 -- provide more context about LGBTQ+ Americans’ experiences.

Most LGBTQ+ People Came to Terms With Their Identity by Age 18

Most LGBTQ+ adults report that they knew they were LGBTQ+ when they were young, including 48% saying they knew by the age of 14 and 72% coming to the realization by the age of 18. The median age that LGBTQ+ Americans report recognizing their self is 14.

While the median age that LGBTQ+ adults in the 18-to-29 age group knew they were LGBTQ+ is 14, it is 15 for those in the 30-to-49 and 50-to-64 age groups and 16 for thos

Gina Battye: How I Knew I Was Queer

By Gina Battye

 

It all started when I was 9 years old.

I didn’t know it at the time but the tell-tale signs were present.

Signs That I Was Gay

My first school organised one of those adventure holiday things for kids in their final year; like a summer camp. We went abseiling, horse riding, canoeing and did loads of army boot-camp type activities.

You need to know something. Back then, I was a super shy, still kid. I know, I know – it’s difficult to believe. But it’s true.

I was anxious about two things around the trip; I had prolonged hair and struggled to tie it into a ponytail on my have and I was worried about being away from home. It was my first time away from my mum for an extended period of period and I was really nervous about it.

Turns out, I didn’t need to worry at all. I had a really fantastic teacher and LOVED doing archery, quad biking and building rafts out of sticks and barrels. It was really good fun.

I was an avid photographer, even back then. I loved to take activity pictures of my family and friends. It’s secure to say this trip proved no exception.

I recall getting my camera developed (r

How old were you when you learned learned that homosexuality existed?

(That was the best title I could come up with.)

Blunt, even churlish way of putting the interrogate, but I’m kind of curious—I’ve heard plenty of stories about people (straight and gay) growing up not knowing there even was such a thing as homosexuality. But thinking about it, I realized I have absolutely no memory of when I learned about it. No more than I can remember learning—I dunno, that Finland existed, or, hell, even that heterosexuality existed, for that matter.

Some background: 30 year old (straight) man, born and raised in Northern California, perfectly tolerant immediate family, no gay family members or friends of the family (that I know of) when I was growing up, or any noisily bigoted relatives/friends of family, either.

I actually recall recall thinking when I was about…5ish, that a couple of characters on Fraggle Rock were girlfriends—Mokey and Red, who were roommates, and best friends. I guess I just noticed the living situation, and how close they were, and just thought, “Oh! They must be enjoy my uncle and his girlfriend. They’re a pretty couple.” And didn’t reflect anything else of

My very first women’s studies class: a clause so momentous, it requires no verb.

The course title was actually Women’s Studies 101. I took Women’s Studies 101 the very first semester I was in college. I arrived without the slightest lead about what to expect, which did nothing to counter my lifetime’s worth of expectations. Since my early teens, I had been getting by on a haphazard assortment of Simone de Beauvoir, Anais Nin, and Bust Magazine. I was riveted by the thought of an expertly curated reading list. While we mostly deconstructed theoretical texts, we did complete a unit on Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg’s classic tale of heartbreaking masculinity. It was a thrill to witness living humans discussing all of this.

I remember walking into the classroom on the first day and sitting in the center of the front row. In upper school, I had been a slacker of the utmost order, but I was not going to miss a minute of Women’s Studies 101. The seats began to fill up and once there weren’t more than one or two still free, our professor walked in, at which point I did a reluctant double-take: My Women’s Studies 101 instructor was a dude, which is a story for another time, but consent me say that