"I Realized I Was Gay": Men Who Came Out Later In Life Are Sharg What It Was Like For Them To Reveal That Tth And Live Authentilly

WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE GAY?

* did you know i was gay *

Then he addrsed the class, stctg each to take out a piece of paper and a pen and wre down the moment when we all realized we were gay. I had already been asked a ln tim, "When did you know you were gay", but I was thrilled to have someone state the qutn aloud, the ntext of an amic exercise.

If I was gay, I wonred if meant that I would be required to cut my hair to a buzzcut like the (first, ostensibly) lbian (I had ever nfirmed as such) my mother had poted out to me at the Ralph Lren outlet a middle-class untry town you might fd somewhere like Vermont; a untry town where you might fd lbians. Readg my diary nfirmed that I knew way before then that I was gay.

The clud stuffg my bra, buyg a thong, skny dippg, stealg, kissg a boy, havg cybersex, watchg porn, and wrg "bch" on a school the most movg tail was somethg I had no rellectn of — I always knew I was gay. I am nfint that, had the Deidre who wrote the words been exposed to healthy reprentatns of queer love om an early age, she would have known that beg gay was OK.

READG MY DIARY OM WHEN I WAS A TEEN MA ME REALIZE I ALWAYS KNEW I WAS GAY

Depictns of gay people were not flatterg.

), all gay men had AIDS. The very few gay men I knew did die of AIDS, though was rarely spoken about. Other pictns of gay men were flamboyant queens, sissy effemate men, etc.

Early on, I had hts I was gay, but I ignored them. He was my masturbatn material my teenage years, yet, I did not realize I was gay.

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU WERE GAY?

When I was llege, I wanted to learn more about beg gay, so I went to Barn and Noble. Not only did I know this is where a lot of gay men hung out, but B&N also had books on the subject.