Penny

Penny (aka Pen), age 10

Rotorua, New Zealand (1984)

This photo was shot on Christmas day, with my new t-shirt on. This look was pretty much par for the course. I always hated wearing skirts and never wore pink. By the time I was 7 or 8 my mother accepted I would never wear another skirt, and she also let me cut my hair short for evermore.

“How you doin’?’

On the first day of winter at my primary school, the principal stood up in assembly and said: 'It's now winter weather, so the boys and Pen can now wear trousers'. I was also the only girl on the "boys" soccer team.

I guess I was always different.

Luckily, my family never made me feel odd. It was just taken for granted that I was a tomboy and there was nothing wrong with that. Growing up, my mother had lots of lesbian friends, so I had positive gay role models around me.

I knew I was attracted to girls right around age 10, and I had a huge crush on my cousin. So I decided when I was 13 that I must be bisexual.

Soon after I decided I had no interest in boys, so I must be a lesbian. I told my mum when I was 15 and she just said 'Yeah, I know'. The rest of the family pretty much reacted the same way. 

Looking at this picture now, I realize how lucky I was that I was always allowed to be myself as a kid and no one in my family or school ever said 'Hey, that’s not right'. I also think, 'Man I was a cocky little thing back then!'

Pen's first, famous-person same sex crush:

Nancy McKeon (Jo on "The Facts Of Life")

Partly, I think I wanted to be her. She was so cool