LGBT Dopers: When did you discover your sexuality/come out?

[Hostile Dialect]

I'm curious as to what ages our LGBT members discovered that they were LGBT, and when (if at all) they came out.

So: Who are you? When did you discover yourself? When did you come out, to whom, and what was their reaction?

[Maastricht]

dunce hat

what's LGBT?

/dunce hat

[Lobsang]

I can guess the L and the G, but I'm lost after that.

[Lobsang]

"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender"

Google was my friend.

[35340]

Well, I'm not all of those, but I started putting it together around puberty time and came out to my folks about a decade later. They were okay with it.

Okay enough that I wish I'd said something sooner; might have saved myself from jumping into a couple of relationships I shouldn't have. Might not have, but you never know.

[Homebrew]

I was about 28 when I finally admitted to myself that those feelings I'd had since Junior High weren't some demon trying to tempt me to sin*, but were innate and natural. I told my then wife when I was about 29. We separated and I started telling everyone else when I was 32.



*The fundamentalist Pentecostal church I grew up in taught that homosexuality was caused by a demon, or even Satan himself, tricking someone.

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender"

Google was my friend.

Yeah well, according to Google it went alot farther than "friendship", buddy.
BTW, Google says you snore.

[NotWithoutRage]

Originally Posted by fetus

I'm curious as to what ages our LGBT members discovered that they were LGBT, and when (if at all) they came out.

So: Who are you? When did you discover yourself? When did you come out, to whom, and what was their reaction?

24 year old bi girl, but use the word queer because it's easier, and more inclusive of who I am.

Discovered myself? I admitted to myself for the first time that I had feelings for both genders when I was in eighth grade, although I can remember feeling different since I was eight or nine.

The first person I came out to was my best friend, who was also gay, in high school, when I was fifteen. I didn't come out to my parents until I was almost twenty. Still dealing with the parental reaction, five years later!

[Hamish]

28-year-old gay guy. I came out at age 16 after trying to clamp down on the feelings for five years.

The first person I came out to was my best friend, which I did over the phone, and I couldn't even say it -- I had to hint. He was fairly okay with it, but most of my friends walked out on me a few months after I came out. I only kept two friends out of that mess.

My mother found out when I was 17 by listening in to my conversations and reading my journals. My sister told my father after I left in the middle of the night when I was 18.

[Eve]

Knew who and what I was in second grade (how old's that?). Never really had to "come out," it was pretty damn obvious from three states away.

[Ephemera]

I'm a 22 year old male bisexual. I first realized I liked guys sometime around the time when I was sixteen, admitted it to a few people over the next six years, and outed myself to everyon back in November.

As a direct consequence, I'm now living 2,500 miles from home.

[stpauler]

I've always known I was gay. Ever since I can remember.

I came out on November 3, 1993 (I usually have a get together with close friends on that day as a minor celebration.) I went to the local LGBT youth center for the first time and someone asked if I was gay and I said yes.

The rest was pretty easy. I came out to my Aunt while she was doing my taxes in February. She was the first in my family and was so excited to hear the news that she asked if she could tell the rest of the family. My response? "Better you than me." Sure, it was a bit of coward's way out not to do it myself, but it gave them time to understand and react without me having to witness it. My mom said that although she had her suspicions, she was still surprised and was a bit sad at first but has completely been supportive ever since. As has the rest of the family.