Things that Awakened or Re-Affirmed That I Am Gay...

[Danny-Darko]

As a kid who hadn't even started school yet I loved watching Batman and Robin. I loved that show and seeing them interact. I especially liked the fact that Robin lived with Batman and the age difference.  Then came Wally from Leave it to Beaver reruns from the late 50's (I was too young to know they were reruns) when Wally was in high school in the later episodes. And then after as I grew a little older I started liking all the young TV Dads of the early and mid 60's and the older teenage sons. Of course it all clicked when puberty hit and I stared noticing the high school guys on the school bus and in the neighborhood and then a crush I developed on my hot single 26 year old gym teacher who wore nothing but skimpy gym shorts, tight t-shirts, tennis shoes and a whistle! Then in 5th grade he taught us Sex Ed, then I started having all kinds of fantasies about him since I had discovered masturbation. I fought it though till my mid 20's. I grew up in an environment where that wasn't acceptable in any way. I had to move far away from my family, friends and community to realize this was who I was and nothing could be done to change it. I had to learn to be happy with my sexuality.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Danny-Darko

[+ JEC]

 

• Men's gymnastics, ice skating, speed skating, swimming and diving every time the Olympics rolled around
• James at 15
• High school swimming class
• Making Love (Movie)
• Saturday Night Fever (Movie)
• Jordache and Calvin Klein Jeans in the late 70s/early 80s
• Dog Day Afternoon (Movie)
• Disco
• Little Boy Blue (Movie - Ryan Philippe)
• The Boys in The Band (Movie) [actually, maked me wish I wasn't gay]
• Wigstock (Movie)
• Paris is Burning (Movie)
• Steam (Hammam) (Movie)
• Brokeback Mountain (Movie)
• Marky Mark / Calvin Klein underwear
• Lifeguards
• Hairspray (Movie)
• Wrestling (high school/college - not pro so much)

 

[+ bashful]

Pictures of the guys swim team in my older brother's high school year book.

Seeing guys in the summer playing baseball in the city park at the end of our street.  A guy at bat was shirtless, tanned, broad-shouldered, and had pecs for days.  I couldn't take my eyes off him.

He hit a homerun (hehehe)

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by bashful

[Islesguy]

22 hours ago, Danny-Darko said:

As a kid who hadn't even started school yet I loved watching Batman and Robin. I loved that show and seeing them interact. I especially liked the fact that Robin lived with Batman and the age difference.  Then came Wally from Leave it to Beaver reruns from the late 50's (I was too young to know they were reruns) when Wally was in high school in the later episodes. And then after as I grew a little older I started liking all the young TV Dads of the early and mid 60's and the older teenage sons. Of course it all clicked when puberty hit and I stared noticing the high school guys on the school bus and in the neighborhood and then a crush I developed on my hot single 26 year old gym teacher who wore nothing but skimpy gym shorts, tight t-shirts, tennis shoes and a whistle! Then in 5th grade he taught us Sex Ed, then I started having all kinds of fantasies about him since I had discovered masturbation. I fought it though till my mid 20's. I grew up in an environment where that wasn't acceptable in any way. I had to move far away from my family, friends and community to realize this was who I was and nothing could be done to change it. I had to learn to be happy with my sexuality.

Did your gym teacher have curly blind hair? Maybe it's the same as mine. He had some damn fine muscles that were clearly visible under his shirts. I also had a huge crush on Wally when I watched reruns of Leave It to Beaver.

[Danny-Darko]

3 hours ago, Islesguy said:

Did your gym teacher have curly blind hair? Maybe it's the same as mine. He had some damn fine muscles that were clearly visible under his shirts. I also had a huge crush on Wally when I watched reruns of Leave It to Beaver.

Yes, his hair was curly but sort of light brown or dirty blondish. He played guitar and sang just like Neil Diamond! He had a beautiful penis too! He no qualms of peeing in the urinals next to us kids. Back then those things were not thought of as an issue and neither urinals nor showers had dividers and cubicles didn't have doors on them. Men changed, peed, bathed with other men without any issues when I was a kid. Shy kids that covered themselves were ridiculed and made fun of. My how things have changed. These days men cover themselves when changing in gym locker rooms and there are even signs indicating to do so in my area! 

And Wally in his high school days on the show was so handsome and charming. He was like the perfect brother every guy would have wanted.  

Edited May 31, 2021 by Danny-Darko

[Islesguy]

4 hours ago, Danny-Darko said:

Yes, his hair was curly but sort of light brown or dirty blondish. He played guitar and sang just like Neil Diamond! He had a beautiful penis too! He no qualms of peeing in the urinals next to us kids. Back then those things were not thought of as an issue and neither urinals nor showers had dividers and cubicles didn't have doors on them. Men changed, peed, bathed with other men without any issues when I was a kid. Shy kids that covered themselves were ridiculed and made fun of. My how things have changed. These days men cover themselves when changing in gym locker rooms and there are even signs indicating to do so in my area! 

And Wally in his high school days on the show was so handsome and charming. He was like the perfect brother every guy would have wanted.  

I am definitely younger, probably by a couple of decades, than you. I knew very little about my gym teacher's life outside of school and certainly never saw any skin but his arms and legs that were never covered by his shirts and shorts. If I had gotten a glimpse of his penis, I probably would have had to switch gym classes. Thankfully, by the time I got to high school, discretion was the better part of valor when changing. I don't think I could have handled being naked in front of my classmates. I got ridiculed for enough things back then.

I think everyone would have wanted a brother like Wally. And parents like the Cleavers for that matter.

[+ Pensant]

On 5/29/2021 at 11:44 PM, Danny-Darko said:

As a kid who hadn't even started school yet I loved watching Batman and Robin. I loved that show and seeing them interact. I especially liked the fact that Robin lived with Batman and the age difference.  Then came Wally from Leave it to Beaver reruns from the late 50's (I was too young to know they were reruns) when Wally was in high school in the later episodes. And then after as I grew a little older I started liking all the young TV Dads of the early and mid 60's and the older teenage sons. Of course it all clicked when puberty hit and I stared noticing the high school guys on the school bus and in the neighborhood and then a crush I developed on my hot single 26 year old gym teacher who wore nothing but skimpy gym shorts, tight t-shirts, tennis shoes and a whistle! Then in 5th grade he taught us Sex Ed, then I started having all kinds of fantasies about him since I had discovered masturbation. I fought it though till my mid 20's. I grew up in an environment where that wasn't acceptable in any way. I had to move far away from my family, friends and community to realize this was who I was and nothing could be done to change it. I had to learn to be happy with my sexuality.

Robin has nice arm definition and a nice bulge in that picture. Batman looks a little flabby.

[+ MysticMenace]

Weirdly enough, this scene in Mulan...my closeted self kept singing it on my walk to and from school after watching it in the movies when I was 13 for a good couple weeks.

 

[Islesguy]

On 5/31/2021 at 9:06 AM, Pensant said:

Robin has nice arm definition and a nice bulge in that picture. Batman looks a little flabby.

Burt Ward (Robin) has been said to have a fairly large tool. In fact, supposedly after season one, the show made sure his bulge was less visible on camera. At least that's the story.

[+ MysticMenace]

X-Men...Wolverine, Cyclops, and Gambit..

[+ RJD]

Awakened...Kent McCord in Adam-12.  I'd watch this show as a small child and be so attracted to him.  Even then I knew it was "wrong" because boys were supposed to like girls.  

Reaffirmed...a few years later, Christopher Knight (the older version of Peter Brady).

[Rod Hagen]

This thread is why, long ago, I wrote this article for the San Francisco Chronicle: there's often that one thing that makes us think, "well, maybe men?"

 

https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Brokeback-breach-for-repressed-men-Film-s-2524151.php

 

[Kcdave]

On 5/30/2021 at 1:44 AM, Danny-Darko said:

As a kid who hadn't even started school yet I loved watching Batman and Robin. I loved that show and seeing them interact. I especially liked the fact that Robin lived with Batman and the age difference.  Then came Wally from Leave it to Beaver reruns from the late 50's (I was too young to know they were reruns) when Wally was in high school in the later episodes. And then after as I grew a little older I started liking all the young TV Dads of the early and mid 60's and the older teenage sons. Of course it all clicked when puberty hit and I stared noticing the high school guys on the school bus and in the neighborhood and then a crush I developed on my hot single 26 year old gym teacher who wore nothing but skimpy gym shorts, tight t-shirts, tennis shoes and a whistle! Then in 5th grade he taught us Sex Ed, then I started having all kinds of fantasies about him since I had discovered masturbation. I fought it though till my mid 20's. I grew up in an environment where that wasn't acceptable in any way. I had to move far away from my family, friends and community to realize this was who I was and nothing could be done to change it. I had to learn to be happy with my sexuality.

I have to agree with you. It started with me probably when I was a young kid watching Batman and robin.

loved looking at the crotch of Batman and robin. Some thing about a bulge in nylon turn me on.

But then in 1970’s seventh grade at my junior high in St. Louis all the boys had to wear nylon swimsuits, I think they were called tanks suits back then. They were like a full cut speedo. So at age 12 or 13,I started masturbating in my nylon  tank suit because that nylon felt so good. I’ve had a fetish for Speedo‘s ever since.   

[+ MysticMenace]

 

[Rod Hagen]

On 6/4/2021 at 5:11 AM, JoeMendoza said:

X-Men...Wolverine, Cyclops, and Gambit..

I know you were talking about cartoons (those were good ones).

The Comic books they're based on are a great gateway to GayDom, always have been. 

[+ MysticMenace]

Mickey Rourke on 9 1/2 weeks.

w

[CuriousByNature]

1 hour ago, JoeMendoza said:

Mickey Rourke on 9 1/2 weeks.

w

It's past my bedtime... my eyes are so tired that I thought you wrote Mickey Rooney.  😂

[+ azdr0710]

was about nine or ten years old in the early 1970s and my family and our cousins' family took a white-water rafting trip in the Sierras.....at the river launch spot, two other guys in their early 20s were skinny-dipping and walking naked around the area very near us.....for a kid like me ("born this way"), I guess I was impressed by the looks of young fully-matured guys in good shape....I probably had only ever seen my Dad naked before this (and he was in his 40s at the time!).....I do remember excitedly asking other family members if they saw those naked guys over there, but didn't get any more 'obvious' about it, I think.....

the guys running the river trip were all young and in good shape, too.....don't know if I was hoping to be and look like them?......or if I was jealous?......I didn't yet know about gay/straight/what-have-you stuff yet and I don't think there was a sexual (gay) urge/attraction at all at that early age, but I just remember that they seemed like classic, grown, good-looking, masculine, in-shape adult men and I was just a kid that didn't look like that.....

next thing I remember related to all this is the first time we had to actually change clothes in a locker room for gym (7th grade).....we weren't required to shower, but some of the guys did......I remember an 8th grade guy, who'd evidently pretty much already progressed thru puberty, would shower and then unnecessarily linger for just a few extra seconds at the entrance to the showers, facing the locker room full frontal.....tall, dark, and handsome (and showing off the impressive effects of puberty!!)........at the time, I still didn't know the whole gay/straight dynamic and society standards, but did just feel an admiration (not quite the right word???) for this guy who seemed to be in great shape, well-hung, good-looking, the whole bit......

[EastCoastBtm]

Spending WAY too much time in the back of Spencer Gifts at the Northtowne Square Mall in Toledo, Ohio flipping through the posters in the back corner of the store, checking out beefcake posters, and lingering on one of a guy shirtless with button fly jeans and the top two buttons open, exposing 'just enough' pubic hair for me to desperately want to see what was hiding under buttons 3, 4, & 5.

Receiving the 'Undergear' catalog in high school and having to defend it to my friends.  

Edited June 21, 2021 by EastCoastBtm
spelling mistake

[mkm556]

As an early teen, tagging along with my mom to the local convenience store so I could disappear to the magazine section and sneek a peek at their latest issue of Playgirl

Also making several passes walking through the men's locker room at the gym and swimming pool on a military base to catch a glimpse of men undressing or showering

[+ Charlie]

13 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

next thing I remember related to all this is the first time we had to actually change clothes in a locker room for gym (7th grade).....we weren't required to shower, but some of the guys did......I remember an 8th grade guy, who'd evidently pretty much already progressed thru puberty, would shower and then unnecessarily linger for just a few extra seconds at the entrance to the showers, facing the locker room full frontal.....tall, dark, and handsome (and showing off the impressive effects of puberty!!)........at the time, I still didn't know the whole gay/straight dynamic and society standards, but did just feel an admiration (not quite the right word???) for this guy who seemed to be in great shape, well-hung, good-looking, the whole bit......

7th grade probably the first time I noticed that one of my classmates was starting to look like a man, and that interested me. Kevin Ryan was bigger than the other kids, had some body hair and muscle definition, and was kind of a "bad boy" in the eyes of our elderly women teachers, partly because he was starting to attract a coterie of others kids who wanted to be like him. I still didn't think about sexual orientation or my own identity--that wasn't a topic that most people talked about in the 1950s--but I was the youngest kid in our class, and I definitely kept an eye on him.

[Mjonis]

Gosh, I don't know.  Probably around 13?  I remember watching TV shows (Magnum PI, etc) and lusting after the hairy chests and fantasizing about blow jobs.  By 16 I definitely "knew" and was 100% sure.  I like guys.  I love cock and balls.  no nasty poon (haha).  Although I can appreciate an attractive female, it doesn't nothing for me (no arousal, etc.)  

 

[+ friendofsheila]

Built college boy jogging shirtless, making a good show of pretending he's "just exercising".  

[+ WilliamM]

On 6/21/2021 at 3:35 PM, Charlie said:

7th grade probably the first time I noticed that one of my classmates was starting to look like a man, and that interested me. Kevin Ryan was bigger than the other kids, had some body hair and muscle definition, and was kind of a "bad boy" in the eyes of our elderly women teachers, partly because he was starting to attract a coterie of others kids who wanted to be like him. I still didn't think about sexual orientation or my own identity--that wasn't a topic that most people talked about in the 1950s--but I was the youngest kid in our class, and I definitely kept an eye on him.

I diisliked twice a week gym class in the 7 grade because we had to bring our own towel and carry around a wet towel for the rest of the day. The student I thought was hot wasn't in the gym class.  I

 

n fact, we never had a subject together until 10th grade English. I kept waiting for the field trip. Bingo

 

[jeezifonly]

When did I intuit/guess but doubt/guess again/know?

Chronologically

1. Clint Walker on The Lucy Show. Look him up

2. How long had I been staring at the oversized genitals sported by the scout troop leader? He was 5yrs older, a high school senior with acne, sweet eyes and endless patience with us oddballs; the sports-averse, the nerds, the witty…) I had only seen little schmeckles like mine, and, well - this was the stuff of men, tumbling in weighty sections, over and over again, in his sudsy hands, right here in the dreaded (!!!) camp shower. 

3. No sex in HS. Then Four years of meh sex with college GF (bookstore with Playgirl on campus…praise be)

4. Getting interest from guys…GF noticing…

5. The biggie. Breakup w girl. Moving to LA, a closeted corn-fed homovirgin. Tried bars a few times, always scared, leaving alone. I found an ad for a porn theatre in Hollywood, and it was an education, really…seeing the mechanics of gay sex, learning how cruising works…Many important erotic FIRSTS that took place there in the dark:  Moving images not mags; kissing a man; touching a man; a man touching me; getting blown and swallowed; and …poppers. A dating/sex life began soon after, even while closeted to family (local and not), and the last two girls who seduced me became friends, knowing I was thinking men were the deal for me

Doubts were eliminated and all prior suspicions/intuitions confirmed on a March afternoon whilst on my back on a small boat off Long Beach Harbor

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by jeezifonly
Clarity