[GourmetDan]

"Don’t even straight children go through a sort of “gay period” — where they haven’t completely linked their sexuality to a gender, but are often immensely attracted to a member of their own sex?"

I didn't.

[Bokababe]

That actually should have read "Don't many straight children go through a "gay period"?

I'm female and I always liked boys. I had many crushes on my older brother's friends. But somewhere around 6th grade I remember being absolutely fascinated with one girl and with everything about her. Nothing happened, but I can't say that I wasn't confused about my feelings for her at the time. Hormones waking up don't come with a set of instructions. In retrospect, I realized that I just really wanted to BE her, but I didn't know that then.

Never had those feelings about anyone of the same gender since. But I always wondered if homosexuality was the result of sort of getting stuck in that kind of immature fantasy and then getting a sexual payoff for it.