When did you understand the word gay?

[Holmes]

I was eight when I found out what the word gay meant. I sometimes mix up personal pronouns, possibly part of a general slip-up I make with opposites when speaking, I'm bad in a car giving directions, I'll say left when I mean right (the other left). Anyway, a girl was talking about someone she liked, in that eight-year-old way, and I said "she" by mistake. She said, "Don't be silly, I'm not gay". No big fuss, just, Ah right, that's what it means, and we went on chatting.

[Rosina]

Hmm, I'm not sure exactly what age I was, probably five or six. It was on a family holiday and my parents shared this hushed comment between them whilst we were at a busy restaurant; being the inquisitive little thing that I was, I asked them what they had said to each other (but not me!) My Dad then explained that the two ladies sitting next to us were "lesbians", what that word meant and how there was nothing wrong with two women loving each other. To me at that age, it looked like they were just being friendly, but looking back on it now, there was definitely something more there.

It was quite an afternoon actually, I had my whole LGBT education laid out pretty much! The conversation, as spurred on by my questions, went onto whether two men could love each other ("like Mummy and Daddy love each other") and - this is where I think I did that insightful thing that children do - I asked if that one of the women on the table next door wanted to be a man, because she loved another woman; I had, in very basic terms it explained to me by my Dad, that some men wished they were women and vise versa, but he didn't think that either of the women near us did, they just both loved girls rather than boys.

Mucho kudos to my Dad for being so awesome

[Holmes]

At a much younger age, probably 5, I asked my mother about marriage law. I asked her about two female friends of mine, whether they could marry. She was shocked at the question, but that was because she thought I had asked if one could kill the other, the Irish for kill being maraigh, pronounced as the English word marry. Anyway, just one of the small things I remember, more for being one of the occasional confusions in a bilingual home at that age than for any LGBT issues related reason.

[Zontar]

I think when I was five or six I saw these people on TV in a parade carrying a banner that read "gay fathers." I asked my parents what "gay" meant, and they just said "happy."

[SlickyPants]

Well I knew I was gay since I was very young although I didn't know that "gay" was what I was. When I moved to where I live now when I was 9 years old I started hearing the term a lot on the playground and it was always used in a derogetory way for "stupid" or for something someone didn't like. It didn't affect me at all at the time because I never associated the word with me and I was innocently very comfortable with who I was.

When I was about 15-16 I found out what the word actually meant. I don't rememeber the circumstances of how I found out. Being the type I probably looked it up in a dictionary or something. In any case it was life-changing because it meant that I was now gay and that it was something that other people hated. The walls went up and so started my years in the closet.

[steel03]

I remember this specifically.
In first grade, we were all assigned fourth grade buddies. Just my luck, I got paired with the guy who, at age ten, was already a complete burnout. Anyway, one day we were making snowflakes with our buddies or something stupid like that, and some of the fourth graders were messing with a kid in my class, trying to make her say she was gay. When she finally did, I remember one fourth grade girl saying really loudly, "OH MY GOD A FIRST GRADER'S GAY???" I asked my mom what that meant when she picked me up from school that day and she told me. And after that I understood why my aunt lived with a woman instead of a man.

[Maddy]

I don't remember ever being told, but I'm pretty sure I had it figured out by about age 10.

[Kidd]

I understood the word "gay" in sixth grade. I entered school really early...so I was like 11.

[AtmaWeapon]

Probably when I was six, seven, or eight, and attending a Lutheran private school where they mentioned the evils of Gay Day at Disney, showing a picture of girls holding other girls' hands and guys doing the same with other guys and how that was bad or something. I didn't really understand it for a long time, tbqh.

[IsItSo]

I don't remember when it was first explained to me, but I remember hearing about same sex marriage being legalized in Massachusetts back in 2003. I also remember this episode in fifth grade when the principal walked in on my English class rehearsing a play and commented that we were all "great thespians" and everyone laughed after he left the room, thinking that he called us "lesbians."

[Hot Pink]

As stated elsewhere, I was sheltered, innocent, and naive growing up. I had heard the word "gay" before, but I didn't really know what it meant until I was a teenager. Sad, huh?

[Seags]

around 14-15 i think

[Jewel]

My cousin, who's about twelve years older than I am, is gay. He found out when he was twelve, came out when he was fifteen, so I was practically raised with it.
We've always joked about it, too. Just teasing, really, he's okay with it. But in Dutch there's a different word for female cousin and male cousin. A female cousin is a 'nicht' and a male cousin a 'neef'. But 'nicht'(female cousin) is also used as another word for gay. So I always call my 'neef' my 'nicht'.

[Paper Heart]

I was 10. At my then best friend's birthday party, he gathered us all together as we waited while the mom was up bowling and he told us the "gay" was men like other men. I remember thinking "Oh crap! thats what I am". the way he said it I knew it was derogatory, but I had to act like I was disgusted too. I think he was my first crush O_o

[Nodnarb]

I'm not really sure. I know I knew by 7th grade, but I can't remember exactly how I found out what it meant. I'm guessing maybe 11, possibly before.

Probaby li th poster above, however, the more educated youbecomeyu see the wrong efnitionspplied to eerything. Thwod gay mean notwhatcultur means i tosay. I meanthrow it on theiheads i oeone inults you by calling you gay. Sa "Okay, I'm happy o whaatever caue thedictiory back you up".

[Lotty]

Originally Posted by Jewel

My cousin, who's about twelve years older than I am, is gay. He found out when he was twelve, came out when he was fifteen, so I was practically raised with it.
We've always joked about it, too. Just teasing, really, he's okay with it. But in Dutch there's a different word for female cousin and male cousin. A female cousin is a 'nicht' and a male cousin a 'neef'. But 'nicht'(female cousin) is also used as another word for gay. So I always call my 'neef' my 'nicht'.

That. Is SO funny. I used to know a girl who did that, too. At first I always thought she was actually talking about a girl, until I met him. He was so funny, too. But no, I'm pretty sure it wasn't you, cause her name was Sarah, not Jennifer(I read your post on that Welcome-stuff)
And I guess a lot of people do that, if they have a gay cousin.

[rangerfan]

Probably around 7th grade I understood the word gay, but suppressed my own feelings about it. Not until high school my feelings came back and I started to like guys again.

[Daniel]

I was 3. My mother took me to visit her cousin and his partner, John and Bill respectively.

Bill=fantastic cook=3 year old Daniel's best friend

And then I pranced around in my mother's shoes and the two of them stopped, looked at her, and I quote "Peggy, that's the first sign."

[bambam07]

I didn't know until like sixth or seventh grade when a friend of a friend called me gay. I think I knew what it was before but I never really thought about it.