Members of the LGBTQ+ community are sharing their stories to challenge stereotypes surrounding their sexuality.
Exist Loudly, an organization "committed to creating spaces of joy and community for queer Black youth", took to Twitter to issue a call for black and mixed-race LGBTQ+ youth in the UK aged 12 to 23 to take part in paid research.
Unfortunately, some people reacted badly to the tweet. However, the UK's largest LGBTQ+ charity was quick to issue a response.
Stonewall began encouraging members of the community to use the hashtag #IFirstKnewIWasLGBTQ and share their stories about when they first became aware of their gender and/or sexuality. The aim was to dispel the myth that you have to be a certain age to "know" your sexuality and gender.
The hashtag quickly started trending on Twitter in the UK, and the responses were heartening and inspirational, to say the least.
Check out a few of them below:"#ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ at around 10yrs old. Crush on Desperate Dan & liked hairy/beefy men ever since! Religious pressure meant I hid it till 30 going through suicidal depression and marriage/divorce. If only I'd been allowed to be me from 10! [sic]."
"I was perhaps 7 or 8 when I knew I was different and not like other boys. But then I had no reference and no role models so was a very depressive child not knowing who I was - frightened of adults who wouldn't listen and scared of being regularly beaten up."
"I first wanted to kiss a boy when I was 8 and when I was 11 #IfirstknewIwasLGBTQ. It scared the hell out of me, the enormity of what it meant hit me hard. I was totally alone, no one to talk to, no role model to look up to. I survived. Many didn't. Support would have helped."
"#ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ when I was 8 years old. I had a crush on my babysitter! I'm a section 28 kid & it was years of suffering in silence, living with a homophobic family with no1 to tell me I was ok or that being gay was ok. I wasted years trying 2 come 2 terms with who I am [sic]."
"#ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ when I eventually found terminology online when I was 12! I came out at school. I was always the 'tomboy'. I wish it had been more openly accepted & included in my education. I'd known for a long time but I became very inward/private about my feelings."
"I probably was around 8/9. I knew I liked girls and boys. I thought it was natural until I heard my parents saying unsavory things about a woman they thought was gay. #ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ"
"Somewhere between 7-11, i crushed on girls as equally as boys, and I wasnt ashamed til an adult told me to be [sic]."
"#ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ when I was 8/9 - as a family we sat down to watch a programme on intersex people and I was hoping it was so my parents could explain to me that I was going to grow up to be a boy."
"#ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ when I told my friend at 12 that I wanted a 'I kissed a girl and I liked it' shirt when I went to uni. Two years later I fell for my now ex boyfriend and my female best friend."
"My friend and I were caught together as teens. Her mom, disgusted, shamed us hard & told us we'd go to Hell for our immoral urges. I hid for many more decades. Society might not have known I was queer until I was an adult, but I've known forever. #ifirstknewIwasLGBTQ."
Of course, it needs no reminding, but it's up to you to decide your sexuality and gender, at whatever age and time you see fit.
