Another great thread Stephanie and please don't give yourself any grief about being attracted to men. Like so many other respondents i have always been trans and bi or pansexual. Before puberty my awareness of sex was limited but I still "played" with boys. My identity, however, was that I was secretly a girl who would magically change, some day, into a mom with babies...like my own mother.
What I recognized about my sexual orientation was that gender didn't matter so much as mutual attraction or a loving bond. What I recognized about my gender identity and nexus of orientation was that I gradually became aware of only being able to function sexually by feeling and often acting as the feminine one. That has not changed since my transition but I do feel a more compelling attraction to men...almost in a pheromone sort of way.
Before transition I lived in the hulk of a bearded man's body and knew it was next to impossible for people to see that image was not who I really am. I sobbed when I first told people that truth, so much better now!
Who I love=My orientation, who I am as a lover and more=My gender identity.
