Okay. From my understanding of sexual orientation, this means you are bisexual. If you prefer not to be identified as bisexual, that’s okay, and I won’t call you bisexual. I’ll refer to you as heterosexual if that is your preference.
You actively chose, at 13, not to be attracted to men in a sexual or romantic way? You thought to yourself *“huh, I could totally be into boys, but I guess I’d rather stick to girls” *and just switched your burgeoning homosexual attraction off?
That’s…wow.
I’m not contradicting you. But that’s so far outside my experience, and the experience of my friends, family, and clients, that I simply cannot really get my head around it.
I find it pretty easy to wrap my head around (and I don’t think he said he could “switch” any burgeoning attraction off) – he’s bisexual. That fits with most of what he’s been saying, I think.
Why do I have to be bisexual if I’ve decided I’m interested in girls?
You don’t have to be, but based on what you’ve posted, I interpret “bisexual” to the best descriptor for your sexual orientation. If you would rather not be called that, I would be happy to stop using that word to refer to you.
As commonly used, “bisexual” means that you are sexually attracted to either sex. A bisexual person can choose to date one or the other sex exclusively, but he or she is still bisexual.
To a straight person, it’s effectively no choice. Barring some kind of catastrophic change in society, I can’t choose to date a person of the same sex.
Up to 7th grade you were physically attracted to both boys and girls and then, at that point, you decided you would only pursue girls? It really seems like you’re bisexual and you’ve chosen to only date women. A valid choice, but so would be dating only or also guys.
Can you understand it’s not like that for most people? In kindergarten I started having my first crushes on all the boys. There was no thought process like “I have female genitalia and Tim has male, therefore I choose to find him attractive”. It was just “I love Tim!” without even having an understanding of why.
Most people don’t get to choose. You’re one of the small number of people who are actually sexually attracted to both and you get to choose which to pursue.
I’m not sure where y’all are getting the idea that I was attracted to a guy. I had the opportunity to experiment (the guy expressed an interest in me), and I chose not to. Has everybody bought so wholeheartedly into the “It’s not a choice, dammit” argument that you can’t conceive of somebody being able to choose?
Are you just quibbling over the word “choose” or do you actually not understand the point that people are making?
You were asked when you chose to be heterosexual. You replied “7th grade”. What were you up to that point?
Undeclared.
We’re not talking about choosing to experiment – we’re talking about attraction and sexual desire. That’s what I specifically asked you about – and you said that in the 7th grade you were capable of desiring and enjoying physical sexual/romantic intimacy with another male, and you may even be today if the right guy came along. My understanding of sexual orientation puts that squarely into the “bisexual” categorization.
I am a male, and at no time was I capable of desiring and enjoying physical sexual/romantic intimacy with another male. My understanding of sexual orientation puts me squarely into the “heterosexual” categorization.
It doesn’t seem that hard, or even that unusual to me. Based on what you’ve posted, I believe that you’re a bisexual person who chose to live a heterosexual lifestyle. That’s entirely reasonable and probably pretty common.
And you don’t have to accept my word for it – I will absolutely stop referring to you as bisexual the moment you ask me to, if you so desire.
A sixth grader. 
Because you keep saying you chose to be straight, and the only way that assertion makes sense is if you were formerly attracted to dudes, and stopped being attracted to them by force of will. If you were never attracted to a guy, your sexuality has never been anything other than heterosexual. You chose not to engage in gay sex, but that’s not remotely the same thing as choosing not to be gay.
So if you weren’t attracted to him in the first place, how did you choose not to be attracted to him? In other words, choosing not to experiment with him because you’re not into boys is not the same as choosing to be heterosexual. You’re heterosexual because you’re not into boys.
If you are into both boys and girls, but choose to pursue only girls, then I too would say that you are bisexual. But you still didn’t choose to be bisexual, only who you will pursue. Difference between action (choice) and attraction (no choice.)
How do you know that?
Wait, are you defining homosexual only as “someone who has homosexual sex”? And heterosexual as “someone who has heterosexual sex”? Because I am defining the two in terms of desire, not action.
Maybe we should rename the thread. The Pittee has left us, and the discussion has presented a new, maybe better, topic. 
I tried to edit, but I guess I was out of time. Since you saying no to one guy in the 7th grade means you chose to be heterosexual, does that mean if a guy hits on me, and i say no, I am choosing to be homosexual? (I am female, btw) Is saying “no” making a choice in terms of orientation?
My husband will be very sad if me saying no to random guys years ago (because I didn’t want to have sex with said random guys) means I am in fact gay.
As much as I can know anything about myself, I know it. It’s possible that I could be wrong, as I could be wrong about anything (including “I am human”). I think it’s reasonable to take people at their word when they speak of their desires and attractions – as I take Ethilrist’s when he speaks of his capability (past and present) to possibly feel desire and enjoyment for intimacy with another man.