I'm not out to family but found a guy who is interested in a gay relationship with me. Not sure though how easy it will be to hide any future love between us. How many people have a secret man love they're hiding? I'm willing to let some know just not family etc
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At your age its going to be hard to find a gay man who hasn't been out of the closet for a while. sure they exist, but you won't find them in typical gay settings.
The problem with an out person dating a closeted person is - well actually there are many problems.
Short term dating of a closeted person works ok, but when the dating buds into a relationship your partner is going to expect you to introduce him around and he isn't going to want to go back into a closet.
So you need to decide when you are going to come out - before you start dating, or shortly after you have entered into a relationship.... You will find a lot of gay men are going to expect you to be out already and not waste much time and effort on a relationship with a closeted guy.
Back in our 20's we did that sort of thing because many 20 something year olds are in that place, after 35 it isn't as expected nor 'acceptable' for the most part by many gay men. Especially those who came out young and didn't do the whole 'straight-life' (marriage, kids, etc)...
Most guys are not going to cotton to being a 'dirty little secret', most gay men tired of keeping secrets, telling lies and are loath to go back to that place.
Not saying you won't or can't meet a guy like yourself one who is still in the closet and wants to play the lying games and stuff.... Just pretty rare in the western world with all of the tolerance and stuff our culture now has.
Good luck
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I couldn't handle hiding it. It was too painful.
Mind you, I was living with my family at the time, which I assume you're not.
It was exhausting to keep track of who you could share your feelings and true emotions with, while constantly wearing a poker-face around everybody who wasn't on that list.
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If you're gay, 40, unmarried and still talk with your family on a regular basis... there are three possible scenarios.
1. You've spent and enormous amount of time and energy lying to them to keep them from knowing or even thinking you're gay. If this is the case when they do find out they have every right to feel anger for you deceiving them so long.
2. They already suspect but either hope they're wrong or respect your privacy.
3. They either don't care or don't want to know.
Any relationship you can form with another man would require him to be as closeted as you are and accept the limits of being closeted. That means you'd most likely have to find someone as closeted as yourself who would be under the same pressures you feel. There's nothing healthy about that -- at least in my opinion but I'm not the final authority on that.
I do know that for most people living closeted lives the dread of coming out is always worse than the actual coming out. It might be tough to come out and at first it could seem to turn your life upside down. But in the long run no one ever regrets being honest about it and freeing themselves from the burden of it.
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I thought I was very slick and my family didn't know. My sister told me when I was 30 they had all known for years and were waiting for me to be comfortable talking about it. If you get serious with someone and are with him every time they see you, they will likely figure it out or at least suspect. I can understand if you are financially dependent on them and they are very against it but that doesn't sound like your story. What are you afraid will happen? You just don't want an uncomfortable conversation? I am not trying to be pushy; I just want to understand what you're thinking about.
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