Well, the LGBTQ+ redditors really came through with stories of their "Aha, I'm definitely not straight" moments. Here are some of the top-voted and best comments:
1. "The moment I, a male, thought, Damn, why are all the hot guys gay? followed immediately by, Wait, what?"
2. "I'm bi, and I realized it a little while after a friend of mine came out to me as bi. 'How do you know?' I asked her, and she replied, 'I just know that I check out both girls and guys.' I thought, That doesn't mean you're bi; everyone does that! I check out girls and guys t— Oh..."
3. "I was around 10 or 11 when I got The Sims 2, the first video game I ever played. But I wasn't aware you can have two males (or females, but in this scenario male Sims in a relationship), until I saw the 'flirt' option pop up. I'd spend hours making hot male Sims (usually shirtless) and then making them 'Woo-hoo' in the hot tub, usually with Don Lothario (a pretty well-known Sims womanizer for those unfamiliar with the franchise). At first I didn't put much thought into it. Then a friend from school came over to play The Sims with me, and he asked why not a single family I made had any women. Then it hit me; up to this point I thought what I was doing was completely normal and everyone was just playing The Sims like that. I did make an excuse at the time, and it took me about 10 more years to come out."
4. "I never had any crushes or interest in anything romantic until quite a few years after my sister and stepsister did (13 months and 22 months younger than me, respectively). Then, when I finally developed a crush, it was on a girl. Suppressed it for years after my crush rejected me, so hard even I, myself, believed it was untrue, until I got drunk around a campfire with my best friend and ended up making out with her all night. My best friend and I have now been married for five months 😊."
5. "In sixth grade, my teacher made an announcement after people had been making poor-taste gay jokes. He said, 'There's a high chance that one of you in here is gay, and you probably don’t know it. It might be you, so shut up!' And in that moment i was like, 'LMFAO, ya, OK, sure I'm not gay,' and then two years later I was crankin' it to a guy, and after a while of doing that I was like, 'Oh, maybe I am gay?'"
7. "When I realized I fell in love with my best friend. Also we were both on the football team, and we shared a locker."
8. "My best friend, who grew up as a good Irish Catholic schoolgirl, was walking behind a woman in an airport in the most amazing yellow dress. Just going on and on in her head about how beautifully it flowed, how it curved, how it settled on. After minutes of this, she realized that actually she was just staring at That Ass. It was an amazing ass. Oh shit! she thought, as she realized, looking back down her life: 'Every time I've admired another woman's clothes...I've totally been admiring them.' So, yeah. That Ass changed her life."
9. "I'm so embarrassed, but it was while watching that absolutely grim show A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila on MTV. I was an 18-year-old girl, had never met a gay person (that I knew about) in real life, and BOOM — I loved all those lesbians on the show. Dani the firefighter, thanks for all the feelings! Can’t believe it's a shoutout to Tila Tequila for her dumb show."
10. "The 'hot girl' on college campus (that my friends all wanted) wanted me. I was questioning if I was gay and found guys attractive, but never told anyone. I thought I just needed to have sex with a girl to prove I wasn't gay. Went back to her room, making out, get her undressed, decide to just 'go for it,' but then I ended up saying out loud... 'I'M GAY! Sorry, it's not you. I'm gay. Really gay!' She was pissed and confused. I got dressed and went back to my buddy's dorm. I told him I was gay. He was shocked, but supportive and happy he had a chance with her now."
11. "When I was a Mormon Missionary in Eastern Europe. The other missionaries were tempted by the pretty girls and lingerie ads, and I was tempted by the other missionaries."
12. "Not me, but my best friend. I've known my bro group for years, and he would always be popping random boners when we are all in the pool/beach. That's when he said he knew; it was senior year before he finally told us. Unfortunately when his parents found out they pretty much disowned him. Same happened to his boyfriend when his parents found out. They both moved into my spare room soon after, while they figured out where to go. In two weeks I'll be best man at their wedding. I couldn't be more proud of them. I love 'em like brothers."
13. "I was at summer camp, between seventh and eighth grade. I'd made a new friend and we were talking about stuff, getting to know each other. He made an offhand comment about one of his friends who was bisexual. I was like, 'What does that mean?' I'd never even heard of the concept before then. It had never even crossed my mind that people could be romantically interested in the same sex. So he tells me what it means to be gay and bisexual. I think to myself, Huh. Am I? I didn't know I could be like that. Maybe I am. Spoiler alert: I was."
14. "Year 8 when my bully started humping me to (kid logic?) prove I was gay. I enjoyed that more than he wanted me to. In my defense, he was a very good-looking bully."
15. "I was 12 years old. I was watching the movie Practical Magic for the umpteenth time. Sandra Bullock did something particularly attractive, and it clicked in my brain, and suddenly I just knew. I'd been wondering for a little while, after a (female) friend of mine did something unintentionally suggestive and I had a really strong reaction, but it was that particular viewing of Practical Magic that took me from 'Is it possible I'm gay?' to 'Wow, I am an entire lesbian.'"
16. "Lesbian here. When I was around 5, my brother brought home his first girlfriend. He was 15 and she was 16. I remember being OBSESSED with her. Her name was Tara, and she had long brown hair and would compliment my drawings. She gave me a teddy bear, and I still have it to this day. Looking back, I had a huuuuge crush on her."
17. "One of my gay friends was telling me how he realized he was gay, and I found myself relating to everything he was saying. Before that, I thought I was asexual. I knew I wasn’t into girls, but had never really seriously contemplated whether or not I was into guys, perhaps because I was afraid of the conclusion I’d reach, so I just settled on thinking I was asexual."
"In hindsight, I’d always been into guys; I just misinterpreted all my feelings of attraction as feelings of jealousy. I’d see a hot guy and tell myself that I really wanted to look like him and that that was why I couldn’t stop staring. It made sense at the time, even though it sounds absurd in retrospect. During that conversation, the realization that I had been in denial for years just hit me, and I knew I was gay."
18. "Spending more time than necessary picking out underwear in department stores, wondering what the models looked like without underwear. That shortly led to looking up gay porn, LOL."
19. "I was about 11, and I kept talking trash about this female artist. I was just going on and on about how I hate her music. Truly, she is just the worst. Another peer finally asked me, 'If you don't like her, why do you keep talking about her?' And then it was like, 'Oh. I just didn't know how to express attraction.'"
—[deleted]
20. "A girl tried to drunkenly kiss me, and I was like, 'What? No. OMG, gross!' Then I stayed up all night thinking about it... 😂"
21. "I'm bi, fresh out of the closet, even though I tried my hardest to suppress it. The moment I realized my taste in men, I was watching Captain America: The Winter Solider in the cinema. The moment the Winter Solider jumped from the bridge into the roof of a car and walked STRAIGHT INTO CAMERA, just made me go: 'Oh...fuck.' I realized that not only did I want to have that physique, to cause that same effect on women, but I also wanted to obey a man like that."
23. "A combination of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson circa WWE (plus wrestling in general) and Nelly in the music video for 'Hot in Herre.' I have to say though, I knew I was into guys before anyone had explained what being gay was, so by the time I learned the word it was sort of like, 'Oh right, that'll be me then.' No big realization, just kind of the default since I was 7 or 8."
24. "I was like 12 or 13. I watched the movie But I’m a Cheerleader because it was on TV late one night, and I was like, 'Yep, I’m gay.'"
You can read the full thread of responses on AskReddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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