Whenever queer people come out, they are asked a lot of questions. One question that almost every queer person has heard is, “When did you know you were queer.” On Reddit, the LGBTQIA+ community came together to talk about their ‘I knew when…’ experiences, and this is something everyone should take a look at. Here are some of the most heartwarming tales of queer realisations on the internet for you.
1. A love so young
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“I can remember watching Tarzan as a kid (as early as three years old) and being attracted to his muscled arms and chest. I didn’t know anything about sex that young, but I knew I wanted that man to hold me in his arms. I got in trouble at my fifth birthday party for kissing one of the other boys.”
2. That first crush
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“Sometime in 2006, I was 12. Can’t really explain how I ‘knew’, but I just kind of had a thing for this boy in the class. I think he was the first crush I had. But my parents were, and still are, very vocal about homosexuality being wrong, unnatural, disgusting, etc., so I just kind of pushed it to the back of my mind, and decided it would go away over time. I gave up on lying to myself only a couple of months ago.”
3. Love knows no boundaries
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“I never really put much thought into it until I realised at 19, that my summer of having a crush on and having sex with my best female friend when I was 16, was just as valid as the relationships I’d had with guys. I really loved the shit out of her. And from there on, I realised that to me, it really doesn’t matter what gender my sweetheart is. I love a person. Sex is just sex, whatever. It’s fun, you do stuff together until you orgasm, end of story. That’s when I realised I was bisexual, at the cusp of 20.”
4. Bodies don’t lie
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“Looking back, I’ve known as early as third grade. I would get a funny feeling in my tummy around certain boys and I would get erections when I’d think about them too.”
5. True friends always know
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“I was in 8th grade, just after I turned 13. My friends knew before I did. I never really thought about myself like that, I just thought women were really pretty and beautiful and that I liked drawing boobs and butts. Then, the hormones hit me. I sheepishly went up one day and said, ‘Guys… I have something to tell you. I think I’m gay.’ They all looked at me and went ‘no fucking shit.’”
6. Puppies are a sign
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“In the second grade, I wrote an entry for my daily journal that said, ‘I want to marry (girl’s name) and have puppies with her.’ My parents knew from then, but it took me until seventh grade to realize it for myself, and then I came out in the ninth grade.”
7. Platonic love
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“Age 11, middle school. A new kid joined my class and upon first sight, I thought he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, then spent the next year befriending him while secretly obsessing over him. I didn’t really identify those thoughts as ‘gay’ but I just rolled with it. We spent some nights cuddling and touching a lot, sleeping in spoon formation etc., but it wasn’t at all sexual in nature. I knew I was gay then, though.”
8. The feeling of not wanting
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“Well, I’m asexual. I figured it out around my 16th birthday. Due to that being the legal age for sex where I live, I got to thinking about whether I even wanted to have sex. I realized I didn’t, and accepted it right that moment.”
We talk about straight love stories almost all the time. From social media to life in general, heteronormative couples are given a huge amount of screen time. We need to start giving queer people similar coverage so that we can finally see their love as a norm, rather than as isolated stories.
From interesting and sad to hopeful, the stories of realising queerness are abundant. Which one made you feel things? Tell us in the comments below.
Social and lead image credit: AA Films, T Series, Netflix, SDharmatic Entertainment
