The gals tell their tales:

When I wasa freshman in college, my friend (a woman who I had a crush on), asked me if I had ever thought about making love to another women. I said, "No, absolutely not." What I said was true, I had not even thought about it until she asked me the question. But when she asked, it was like a door opened in my mind, and from then on I could not stop thinking and dreaming about it (and, of course, dreaming about "doing it" withher). It was an unrequited love. She eventually got married, but I eventually got to live my dream with somebody else."

Fran Sneider, Bethesda MD and Rehoboth Beach

When I was a kid, I had crushes on older teen girls, but didn’t everyone. The tragedy music of the 50s was great for substituting the girls name—Tell Laura I love her, changed to tell Paula I love her. I used to swoon over these girls. I did not realize what was going on untilI was around 13, and I saw the movie The Children’s Hour late at night in my room. The light bulb went off and boy could I relate, but the ending was devastating. I must be a lesbian, I thought, but does that mean I will have to always hide my feelings and end up hanging myself? So I continued to hide my feelings for women until I was about 21, always hoping to have a crush on someone who had a crush on me at the same time—so we could finally be happy. I heard that a friend of mine went to gay bars to dance, so I asked her all about it and she took me to the Pier in DC. And the rest is history!

Natalie Moss, Rehoboth Beach

I was working backstage for a theater show on my college campus, and I had a huge crush on one of the actresses. I used to stare at her from where I was pulling the curtain open and closed. Why do I fall in love with girls? I wondered. In those days we thought all lesbians were people in men’s suits who smoked cigars and wound up killing themselves. I guess some did. It took me several more years and the start of gay pride to be able to say I was a lesbian, even to myself. Even now, I am still pretty much in the closet. It’s my generation, I suppose. But I have a partner and we are happy together.

Anonymous, Annandale, VA

I knew when I was 4 years old. I didn’t have a name for it, but I was in love with my next door neighbor. After thatthere was a long succession of friends that I fell in love with, but I didn’t come out until I was 38. I couldn’t come out before that because I had a gay brother and"one in the family" was all my parents could handle. Eventually I realized that two gay children was "twice blessed."

Marsha Levine, Rehoboth Beach

I was in the service and we were warned by our company commander not to snicker at the lecture that was coming up. The gist of it was that we were warned not to let other women give us expensive gifts or anything and if any of these women tried to give us gifts we should report it. I had no idea what she was talking about. Then, one of my friends asked me to go to a softball game and to a bar. She told me it was kind of a funny bar, and asked if that was okay with me. I said I guessed so. I didn’t figure out anything until later, in the bar, when I saw it was all women. I grabbed my friend and said "Don’t leave me alone!" But then this woman came up to me and she had the bluest eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I knew I was one of those women the CO was talking about.

Bonnie Quesenberry, Rehoboth Beach

When I was in 7th grade, on my birthday, a nun kissed me on the mouth. I had been cleaning her classroom for several months—we were a poor parish so the kids who got into trouble routinely—like me—were assigned to clean classrooms. Well, when she kissed me, that kiss knocked me off my feet.When she was finally reassigned elsewhere, and our affair of four yearswas over, I knew there was no turning around, that I was hooked, big time, on girls…she’s still alive, so I’d better not sign my name!

Anonymous, Rehoboth Beach

My first realization was when I was 36 years old, married and attending a girl scout camp leader certification program. To pass the class, we had to attend a weekend at girl scout camp to demonstrate what we had learned in class. Waking up the first morning, surrounded by women, what I was struggling to understand (and couldn’t figure out) for all those years, hit me like a freight train and it suddenly became very clear to me. I had not only passed Girl Scout Camp Leader Certification, I had awakened to a new life!

I came home from that weekend with new skills and a new direction for my future. I am no longer married to a man but am together with my life partner of 17 years. GIRL SCOUTS FOREVER!

Sherry, Baltimore and Rehoboth Beach

Please send us your own stories to campoutreho@aol.com. We’ll run them with or without names. We can’t wait to hear some of your fabulous memories!