In the spirit of Pride and our CRUSH issue, we asked the wonderful team at UNICORN and Bi Pride UK about their first crushes and let’s say they certainly didn’t disappoint.
Maddie
My first crush was my BFF, Hanna. I was 12, and one particular evening sticks in my head: we’d stayed up late for a sleepover after the school disco, staring at the ceiling and daydreaming out loud. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy in a way I couldn’t explain, and after that I realised that I’d wanted to kiss her and that I clearly liked girls.
I crushed pretty hard on her for a while and felt incredibly protective of her. I kicked myself when I found out years later that she was bi – if only I’d known at the time! 😝 At least nowadays we’ve grown up and can laugh about it as friends!
Emily K
My first crush was on my best friend, George, when I was 12. We had tons of adventures together and I was smitten with his cheeky persona and boundless energy. I remember tearing around Thorpe Park most weekends, rushing to ride every roller coaster before the park closed, then pigging out on bubble-gum candy floss (so sickly but sooo good).
George is a model and artist now, and we’ve remained great mates to this day. He came out to me as gay a few years back, so a budding romance was never to be (sob).
I still love him to bits and will root for him whatever comes his way.
Prishant K J
My first crush was a girl called Olivia, when I was around 15. She was in my French class during GCESs, and she was my first girl crush.
I remember at my school it was the fashion for girls to have your tie as short as it could be, and Olivia often would tie and re-tie her tie over and over in class in efforts to keep it fashionable. I used to love her attention to detail.
She was part of the popular girls so we never really talked out of school, but in class she was always very sweet, very funny and one of the nicer girls from the popular group.
She was dating a guy called Michael at the time so I never told her how I felt, it was more a crush from afar. But it was her that led me to realise love was not simply between a boy and girl. I’m not actually sure where she ended up after we all finished sixth form and went to university but I hope wherever she is she’s living her best life.
Abigail K
I don’t know if it was my first crush, but when I was 6 or 7, I was absolutely obsessed with a family friend my older brother’s age, Keren.
Anything she did, I did too. So of course when she became vegetarian, I became vegetarian too. I loved animals as a child (like many children), so I said it was because of that, but when I came to terms with my sexuality in my 20s, it was very obvious that Keren was the real reason.
I reconnected with her a few years ago when it turned out we lived in the same part of London now; we went out for a drink, which became four, and when I was suitably tipsy I ‘confessed’ that I’d had a crush on her.
She said she’d known – her mum had apparently said that if she’d jumped off a cliff back then, I’d have followed! And that’s the story of how at 29 I’ve been a vegetarian for 22 years.
Emily E
It’s hard to pinpoint who my first crush was; I feel like I constantly had them when I was younger, even if I didn’t identify them as that. However, one girl stands out to me – I started crushing on her when I was roughly eleven/twelve years old. She was so pretty, and I didn’t know her that well but I found myself thinking about her way too often for my levels of comfortability. I remember specifically thinking, “I can’t understand why all the boys aren’t trying to date her. If I were a boy, I would!”
I later realised I was bi, and that I didn’t need to be male to date a pretty girl.
Tanya
My first crush was a kid with a rocking bowl cut; Cameron. We were nine years old and would go down the big red slide together during recess. It was especially fun trying to find ways to hold hands throughout the day without anyone seeing – we were somehow always spotted.
Cameron came over once. I wanted to show him I liked him so I made him my favorite snack – buttered toasts with the crusts cut off. He didn’t ask for it, but I spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen making a plate with a pile so high it was hard to balance!
Joe
According to his Wikipedia page, Craig Doyle is an Irish television and radio presenter recognisable to British viewers as the face of BT Sport. But I realise now that, 20 years before I accepted my bisexuality, Craig Doyle was in fact my first crush.
As a 7 year old I was obsessed. I would spend each week anticipating seeing him on the telly. I wanted my haircut like his. I wanted to be him. He made me feel safe, and warm and…excited. Years before I understood what I was feeling, I was crushing on the man who presented Tomorrow’s World.
He kickstarted in me what would become a lifelong trend; struggling to differentiate between fancying a man and wanting to be him. But you know what, looking Craig Doyle up to write this, he’s definitely still got a certain…something about him. First crushes die hard.
Lucy
It’s hard to pinpoint my first crush, like how certain can I be that it was Stephen Gately or Markus Feehily who came first? Either way they both turned out to be gay and my 90s childhood crushes seemed like a broken dream.
Thankfully with the rise of boy bands I was soon able to replace them with a member from Blazin’ Squad, I mean there were 10 of them so I had way more choice and hoped I’d pick one that was at least a little more obtainable, because of course I thought I would meet them and get married?! Oh to be young and delusional.
So who did I go for? Krazy, yes spelt with a K. I know who am I?
