1. "I felt a strange feeling when hugging a male student."

I knew that I was very different from the other kids, and I felt horribly lonely. I didn't fit in with the kids with sight, but what was worse, I didn't fit in with the kids who were blind, either. All the boys were interested in sports and rough games. I wasn't. Some talked about girls, but because I was blind from birth, and because nobody ever talked to me about sex, I had no idea what was being discussed. I am ashamed to say that I didn't even know the difference between girls and boys, except that girls were usually nicer to me, and yet, I felt a strange feeling when hugging a male student. When I was 15 years old, a girl explained to me how babies were born. I knew that if I admitted how little I knew, I'd be laughed at, so I kept quiet. I ordered books in braille about sex, read them, and had then a vague understanding. What is surprising, and very important, is that I began to realize that I was attracted to other boys and men, and not to women. I realized that I had a strange feeling when close to people of my own sex that I did not have when I was with women. —Costco1L