Though a redundant point for anyone who identifies as LGBTQ, it oftentimes goes unnoticed for others that, from an early age, we were “different”—and I don’t necessarily mean that in a pejorative sense. Though we didn’t have a clear definition of something as complex as a sexual identity, we often saw the world through a different lens that, when we look back, was intimately attached to our sexuality (or at least our openness to different experiences).

Born this Way (no, not Gaga’s self-empowering, overplayed theme) is a book that sets out to expose just that notion: that indeed, all of us were once children and, before realizing many of the social norms set to restrict our behavior, we once with pure abandon acted as ourselves. And perhaps someone not so privy when it comes to the concept of sexuality—perhaps, for example, someone who holds a sense of vitriol towards the LGBTQ community—can begin to understand that all of us were once kids.

The photo of Dennis Skeen, 3-years-old at the time, which prompted Paul Vitagliano to create a book about gay kids.

This idea was entirely inspired by a Long Beacher who simply put up a photo on MySpace with a beautiful tongue-in-cheek mock of his own loud homo-ness.

Dennis Skeen’s parents were selling his house a few years ago and was informed by his mother to take what he wanted as the rest would be thrown away. He admittedly didn’t take much, but one of the things he did opt to keep for himself was a collection of his and his siblings’ baby photos.

“This is too good not to post,” Skeen explained after posting the picture in 2009. Little Dennis, at age 3, stands brightly with both his hands on his hips, smiling as broadly as possibly, his leg slightly kicked via a pose that would make Liza proud.

It immediately caught the eye of a friend-of-a-friend Paul Vitagliano, a radio DJ from Silverlake, Skeen’s photo became the key inspiration behind an idea for a coffe table-style book of pictures of LGBT members as children paired with their accompanying tales of solidifying their identities.

“I saw the photo and I just saw it in my mind,” Vitagliano said. “Here is a gay child and he has a story to tell—and I bet you there are other photos of gay kids with more stories to tell.”

The original intent was to have a celebrity-based book, featuring well-known and out faces such as Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris in an attempt to show children that success can fall onto those who are honest about who they are.

Unfortunately, that idea remained static for about a year, until the saddening barrage of LGBTQ-youth suicides swept the nation, prompting Dan Savage’s well-know “It Gets Better” campaign, The Trevor Project, and a multitude of anti-bullying policies being adopted by school districts. Savage’s project specifically inspired Vitagliano, but to approach it from this angle of childhood.

Following the launch of a blog catering to the idea in January of 2011, Vitagliano (pictured left) over 600 photos, each attached with a story—and has whittled them down to about one hundred, spanning different decades, ages, races, gender identities, and birthplaces.

The most beautiful thing about the book is that, while there are tales that are perturbing and heartbreaking, the overall arch of the book differs from that of the It Gets Better and other similar projects: it shows intense resilience. Rather than entirely reminiscing on the many horrors and troubles LGBTQ youth go through, it showcases a gorgeous array of people who have come to own themselves and, even if they do discuss disturbances from the past, are proud of their ability to move on.

“As much as I believe in showing warts and all,” Vitagliano explained, “we want the larger take-away is to just have a nice feeling. A sense that one understands that these people are at a place of self-acceptance and self-love, having moved on from what they went through as a child to a much more positive presence.”

In fact, Skeen’s own entry into the book about his hyperbolically-gay photo showcase’s the book’s aura perfectly: “After I came out, various childhood pictures started to make sense to me. I’m proud to that my picture was so incredibly gay that it inspired Paul V. to create his [book].”

As hard as it often is, sometimes the best times in life are when we reached a point through so much struggle, to finally look back and—in an ironic inverse of the bully who so scarily taunted at us—point and laugh.

Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay is available in all bookstores and at Urban Outfitters stores. It can also be purchased online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters, and iTunes.