She states that growing up she always felt different. As a young child she didn’t have the awareness to realize that she was not meant for a heterosexual path but can clearly see it now in retrospect. She remembers as a small child feeling like a tomboy and, with short, fine hair was often mistaken for a boy. This bothered her and she tried to reverse that by going through a phase she describes as “hyperfemininity.” At age 12 she experienced her first romantic encounter with another girl and beginning at age 14 she was involved (secretly) with another girl from her church. That relationship spanned a few years and eventually ended when a church supervisor called her out for it and insisted it be stopped.