Contemporary youth are increasingly engaging in coming out prior to the formation of concrete sexual identities. They are coming out with an "affinity:" affirming to themselves and expressing to others that "I like girls" or "I like boys." This study centers on the experiences of 13 individuals who all came out with an affinity, not a sexual identity. Participants who came out with an affinity did so either as a personal/political strategy or because they perceived coming out with an affinity to be a less risky way to express sexual difference in a heteronormative society.