Did you know gay people when you were little/growing up?

I did in fact. My next door neighbor was a single gay man, named Roger. There was another gay couple in the apartment unit across the way, Jim and Odie, who would always watch our dog whenever we went on vacation. Jim passed away two years ago, I think due to a heart attack? I'm not sure. Anyway, I was around those people from the time I was seven to the age of eighteen. So, I guess that's partly the reason why my mom really doesn't have a problem with gay people, even if she's in denial about me being one herself.

 

Nope.

It would of been nice though to of have an older LGBT person to have been a role model. Probably would of made things easier.

 

Well I knew I was "different" but that now transpires to mean I am gay lol

I also am guilty on one occasion of calling a very flamboyant dancing boy "bisexual" ...
Perhaps its karma that I turned out being gay myself haha

Infact I am thinking of apologising to him as he is a very nice person but not my type

 

no and knowing about + fully understanding the concept before age fifteen probably would have helped

 

Gay people were invisible when I was little. I didn't even know there were such things as gay people. Kids sometime called each other "fags" or "queers" but nobody identified as such. I was never called queer or a fag, or bullied, but I knew that in some way I was "different" from other boys, even if I didn't know what they were feeling inside. I still am different, and difficult to label, so I try not to.

 

Like someone gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender that I knew in person when I was a kid?
The media started to show gay guys in some national shows in a good way althought most them were flamboyant, not many lesbians, bisexuals or transgenders that I remember, I may give those old shows a second watch now that I'm older.

People that I knew, guys, there was at least a couple guys in my high school, one came out when he started uni and I didn't really expect that, and I met one more at uni, we were good friends but they hadn't told me face to face "I'm gay" and I didn't felt in the right to interrogate them. I don't remember in school, but I never knew about lesbians, and I still don't, that said I still don't get why I got called dyke and was bullied that much (which has lowered my self-esteem a lot to the point to be too introvert) so often, because I don't think I was that obvious, I mean it has taken me quite a while to finally accept that I'm bisexual, and I'm a lot happier since I've done so.
There was a 1 year younger guy that because was always with the girls all the group thought he was a girl, and he came around to ask me about me when I was finishing high school, and he knew quite a lot about me even when we had never talked before, and he spent like two weeks following me in the corridors and stuff. I still don't know why he did so, may be he just picked me as member of lgbt for my attitude and wanted someone to talk with, Idk. I saw him again twice this year but hadn't got to talk to him.

 

there was a gay couple who I knew that played for the local hockey team

 

That's a good question. I don't think I really knew what gay was until middle school. I'm not exactly sure though. My family didn't talk about it and the people I associated with never talked about it either, so I guess I didn't know it was a thing?

I find that hilarious because my dad's brother is gay lol. I swear, I didn't know he was gay until I was a teenager. He wasn't married with kids, but I didn't think anything of it until one day when I asked my mom why he wasn't married or had a girlfriend. She told me he was gay and was surprised that I didn't already know. He had just always been my uncle and that's it.

But once I found out what gay was in middle school, rumor was that the drama teacher and one of the PE coaches were lesbian with each other.

I knew that this kid I had gone to school with since elementary was gay. Or I suspected it. Everyone did. And yes, he is openly gay now.

I suspect that my best friend from kindergarten to 10th grade is asexual. Her Facebook says she's interested in men, but as long as I've known her she hasn't seemed that interested in men. Or women.

A friend of mine from high school is bisexual (so it says on her Facebook), but she's only dated women and will probably only date women.

One of my exes (male) is dating a former lesbian that I went to high school with. I say former lesbian, but I'm pretty sure she still likes girls. She seems hella gay to me.

I knew these twins in high school and I know at least one of them is gay, but I'm not sure which. Actually I think I know of another set of gay twins from middle school...

There was this lesbian that played on the football team. She was a bitch and everyone hated her.

OH YEAH and this girl I went to school with since elementary school is dating a woman now. It's so crazy because I don't think anyone saw it coming. She was a total slut so I guess nobody suspected she was gay. Or whatever she is. Bi? I don't know. She's still nasty. Big fake boobs that she likes to show off. Still dresses like a tramp.

I didn't personally know her, but in high school there was a lesbian that was dating a trans* dude. I don't know if he was out as trans* yet since that girl was dating him. He takes T now and I'm super happy for him even though I don't know him.

There was also another trans* person at my school. She was super ballsy. She wore women's clothing and makeup to school every day. I felt bad because so many people picked on her because they knew she was biologically male. My asexual friend mentioned above actually knew her, but always used male pronouns when talking about her.

I met a senior girl who was dating a sophomore girl.

There are so many more but I've probably bored you already. I just realized that I know/knew/knew of a shit ton of LGBT people. I can't even begin to name them all. #firstworldqueerproblems

What was sad is that the openly gay kids at school were always so... strange. Which I guess is part of the reason I was in denial for so long. I wasn't weird like them, so I obviously wasn't gay. I'm just bicurious and it'll allll goooo awayyyy.... not.

 

I'm sure I did, it just didn't occur to me in the moment. I didn't know being gay was a legitimate thing until about 7th grade, but looking back, one of my best friends in 3rd grade was very stereotypically gay. For a 3rd-grader, at least. Then, of course, I was in softball for the vast majority of my life, so I'm sure there were plenty of other lesbians there that I didn't know about.

There weren't a whole lot of openly gay adults that I knew of, but I had a friend come out to me as bisexual in middle school, and after some recent poking around some old friends' facebook pages, I found out that another close friend of mine from middle school is genderqueer and pansexual.

In short, for the most part, I didn't know they were LGBT when I was growing up, but now I do.

 

I knew a gay guy in 7th-8th grade who was pretty flamboyant, everyone assumed he was gay and at first he denied it but later he admitted that he was. And one of my best friends at the time told me that she was gay/bi (she said both at different times so I'm not sure which one) when I was in 6th grade. I didn't know any gay people as a really young child though, not until I reached middle school.

 

My grandpa's son is gay (he's not officially my uncle) but I didn't know until I was a teenager. Two girls that I went to school with are bisexual and one guy is either bisexual or gay I guess idk but I know he's currently dating a guy, we were all friends but then we went to different schools and we didn't stay in touch or anything so I didn't find out until a few years later... Oh, and I had a huge crush on one of the girls that turned out to be bisexual, lol.

 

I had an aunt that was openly gay that I was not very nice to. I think she knew that I was 'different' and I was mean to her a lot. Really regret that now.

 

I can't recall any no

 

Not really. The first time I actually met bi/gay/trans people was in high school. I did see gay people on TV, but during that time they were what you call the "parade gay" kind.

 

No, I didn't. One thing I really envy about people coming out now is that knowledge that people have coming out now that there are at least other gay people out there. I came out over twenty years ago and I remember the first time I went to Pride and a gay bar--on the same day actually--that sense of wonder that there were actually other gay people out there living their lives as if it was perfectly alright. Still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

 

One family member that I've met about 5 times is gay, but I haven't seen him since he came out. I would have loved to have known more LGBTQ+ people when I was young.

 

I knew/know so many gay people, half of my family is gay, lesbian or bisexual, half of the people my dad manages at his work are gay (we hang out with them outside of work)
And many people in my neighborhood are gay.

So, in short, yes I did.

 

None that I remember