Thanks for sharing these memories. I'm afraid I'm so old at this point I have few memories left of my childhood. But I'll share a few related to the memories you mentioned. I'm not gay. But I've had a life-long struggle with my gender identity. (It's a long story. I'll spare you the details.)

I played what was referred to as little league softball when I was a kid. And I recall I'd play informal games of football with other kids in the neighborhood. But I was not allowed to play sports in school because I had an abdominal hernia. (That's another long story.)

My parents finally got my hernia repaired the summer between my second & third years of high school as I recall. And so during my third year of high school I decided I'd try participating in track. But my heart just wasn't in it & I quit soon after I'd joined. That was the end of my ever-so-brief high school sports career.

I never got along with most boys in school. Few of them liked me & I was mostly afraid of them. (Most of the girls didn't like me either as I recall.) I was bullied both verbally & physically throughout high school by a gang of older boys. They didn't know of my gender identity issues. (I didn't understand them myself way back then.) But I was small & kind-of meek & that's all it took for me to become a target. To this day, oh so many years later, I'm still uncomfortable around men. And, except for the fact that I am married, I pretty-much just keep to myself.