^ Yep, all of that is correct. There is also a bit of history how we came to the anime version. In the original manga, Starlights were just girls crossdressing as guys in their civilian form. But then anime changed it so that they have actual male bodies as their civilian disguise, and Takeuchi (the original author) was furious about this editorial decision.
It was widely speculated that the reason they did this is because a prominent feature of that entire season was Seiya romancing Usagi. It just so happens that most of those scenes transpire when Seiya is in her civilian form.
It might seem strange for the same anime which featured Haruka and Michiru, but you have to take into account that those two were already an established couple that expressed their romantic feelings through rare innuendos and rose petals flying across the screen. Plus, neither of them was the main character. Usagi being openly romanced and pursued by another girl, and her nearly reciprocating, was something else entirely.