Thom, age 6
Columbus, Ohio (1997)

I believe I was pretty well-rounded as a gay child. I liked toy cars and Barbies, didn't play sports until I was older, but was always physically active outside. I was definitely very emotional and cried quite a bit. Taking after my sister and gay brother, I always had unique tastes in music and movies, etc. My lips were always extremely rosy, which got me made fun of a lot.

"I had my gay older brother to model myself after"
As for the photo, I'm in the middle, and my gay brother is on the right. Looking at it now, our gayness was absolutely apparent.

It was around 8 or 9 that I knew I liked men. One day while in my friend's backyard, her shirtless dad shouted something to her from the upstairs window.

That night, I had a dream in which he was naked. When I woke up I just knew that that - and men in general - appealed to me more than women. I didn't accept myself until around 15, however.