Peter

Peter, age 9
Hungary (1999)  

I grew up in a small Hungarian village, and I never encountered the subject of being gay until I started to read books and watch movies on my own. So even then, my first LGBT discoveries were in the fictional world.

I was a weak and sensitive kid. But I always had some good friends, who were mainly girls.

At age 6, I wanted to start ballet classes. But my father wouldn't allow that, so I learned karate instead. And surprisingly, I was quite good at it.

Until age 11, everything seemed normal, even neutral. Then puberty hit, and things changed with my crush on Liam Aiken from the movie "Stepmom."

We had no internet back then, so I literally started to search for other movies he was in, and I watched everything I found. However, it never occurred to me that I might be gay.

At the time, I figured I just wanted to look like him, because he was so gorgeous!

Later on, I tried to have girlfriends, but when I closed my eyes, I always imagined I was with boys. Even then I didn't suspect anything. I thought it was just part of developing my identity. At age 17, I started to date a female classmate, and we were together for four years.

Later on while attending college, I started to consider the option of dating boys.

I didn't get religious education, and my parents were less conservative than the rest of our village. And yet, my family always asked me if I already had a girlfriend or not. It took them an unnecessarily long time to discover my truth.

I came out slowly, but every single person was incredibly supportive.
And many of them said, "Finally!"

Today, I live a happy life with my fiancé now, and I don't regret the long time it took to get here. Things take time, as a friend of mine keeps saying.

My word of advice to gay kids today is: Don't be scared.

I think most people don't know much about this subject, as it's just not the part of their life. And when they find out that LGBT people live the same way, wash the dishes the same way, drive a car the same way, do everything the same way - they soon realize the only thing we do differently is a private matter.
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Peter

Peter, age 6
Portland, ME (1949)

This is just a school photo of me. I really don’t have any photos depicting me in gay poses because I’ve never been even the slightest bit feminine. Well, one exception – I was 17 and working for my future brother-in-law at his gas station, and figured that gay guys should have SOMETHING feminine about them. So I grew my fingernails about a half-inch long. But they interfered with my work (mechanic – gas pump jockey), so I cut them off after a couple of months.

I was once a horse trainer, and at 22, one of the first guys I chased around was a younger stable boy. But I never did get him (dammit!). 

From as far back as I can remember, I've always known that I was different. My interests in humans has always been directed toward men, although I didn’t know what a "fag" was until I got into school. I was always playing cars and trucks in the dirt like the other boys, and was never interested in "girlie" things.

But I REALLY liked all the wrestling we did as kids. I knew it made me aroused, but hadn't realized why at that point.

In 1st grade, I got the crap kicked out of me because some 3rd grader decided that he didn’t like the way I talked (I have a cleft palate – without the hair lip though). I decided then and there that the experience was so distasteful, to say the least, that I would NEVER allow that to happen again. I quickly learned how to take care of myself, and have never taken any crap from anyone for any reason since.

I eventually came out at 17 when my dad asked why I never brought my friends to the house. After I told him that it was because they were gay - and so was I - he didn’t speak to me for 3 weeks. Eventually, he ended up trying to fix me up with the son of one of his employees. I told him that I'd rather find my own dates.

I've always been interested in all things mechanical. I've worked as an ironworker, a car mechanic, and I'm now self-employed with a restaurant and cafeteria/cooking hood-cleaning business.

While I don't advertise being gay, I never steer away from an opportunity to educate the straight world that gay is who we are, and it's OK. This is the way God created us, and that they can either get over it - or spend their lives fuming about it. That is the only choice in the matter!

I've been blessed with supportive family and friends, most of whom are straight. I live in a small town of 3,500 in Arizona and live a completely open life here.

The only way my life could be any better (maybe), is if I won the Lottery. 

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

Ricky Nelson ("Ozzie & Harriet")