Im not sure if its ok to get a girlfriend

[MikeW]

I live in the deep south, I was in the Army and Im a combat veteran of Iraq and so are most of my friends and its a very macho environment, Im an avid shooter and gun collector, Im a practicing Catholic, I drive an old truck, and Im a dyed in the wool republican. Basically all signs point to straight. I think people have this image of me that is definitely not gay. More or less Im in a very right wing conservative environment and I know that I would not be well received, if that makes sense.

You're the kind of gay man who SHOULD come out, precisely because you break most of the stereotypes a lot of straight people have about what gay men are "like". Given you are such a macho fucker, why the hell do you even CARE what *anyone* else thinks? It is a serious question. You don't think of yourself as a coward, do you? A man has a right to be whoever he is and if anyone else has a problem with it, that's their problem.

And BTW, I know several gay men like you. In fact, there is a whole 'genre' of gay men who live that kind of "macho" lifestyle (and many of them are or have been in the military).

I'm not that "macho" myself, but neither am I at all effeminate. Many straight men are surprised to learn I'm gay. I don't go around broadcasting the fact. Not because I'm ashamed of being gay, it's just that there needs to be some reason for me to tell them. If I'm becoming friends with a straight man, for example, I put it out there because I'll be damned if I'm going to keep that fact hidden. If they can't live with it, then we can't be friends. Otherwise, it isn't anyone's business what I do or with whom I do it.