It's easy to pick out the moments in our life where seemingly harmless decisions greatly change the course of our lives. For me, the first of those decisions happened in a girls' bathroom when I was 13.

I can see it clear as day: I am standing in the girls' john on the first day of 8th grade, and I decide to tell a girl I think is a close friend that I am a lesbian.

I had come to this conclusion based on the fact that I wasn't like the other girls my age. To begin with, I found myself aroused by Helena Christensen in Chris Isaak's "Wicked Games" video (above and right).

Secondly, I didn't look or act like the other girls my age. I wasn't into buying clothes, doing my hair or wearing makeup. I didn't care if the boys thought I was pretty, I was more concerned with whether or not I could beat them at arm wrestling (more often than not I could; using a wheelchair works miracles on your upper body strength). Without knowing a thing about transgenderism, my natural conclusion was that what I was feeling was lesbianism, and since I had already told my older friends without incident I didn't see the harm in telling one more person.

This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2010.