The hband of Transportatn Secretary and former a2020 printial ndidate Pete Buttigieg is speakg about the young adult adaptatn of his memoir, cludg his experience g out as gay.
Contents:
MEETG YOUR FIRST GAY FRIEND
Could gay guys be the ultimate wg men for their straight, male iends? * gay friends experiment *
If I fooled arounfld wh my iends when I was like 15 and now I'm 17 and still want to fool around do this mean I'm gay. For a long time, iendships between gay men and straight men – what some now ll “bromosexual” iendships – were unmon.
Homophobia was likely one reason; another was that straight men probably assumed they didn’t have much mon wh gay men. Specifilly, we’re terted lookg at the reasons gay men and straight men bee iends (or rema iends after the gay iend out). We currently have a survey vtigatn unrway that explor some of the posive out of “bromosexual” iendships, cludg our theory that gay men and straight men n be optimal wg men for one another.
Friendships between gay and straight men have always existed. Many straight men hated to beiend gay men, fearg harassment, rejectn om their straight iends or beg lled gay. The growg acceptance of homosexualy, however, has allayed some of the fears.
I'm sred that my iendship wh my btiend will fall apart after what happened. Up to this pot he did not know that I'm gay, and I have no... * gay friends experiment *
Gay men – particularly those nservative and ral environments – rema wary about tryg to beiend straight men, fearg prejudice-fueled rejectn. At the same time, many straight men still doubt that they’ll be able to relate to gay men any meangful way and, for this reason, may not try to iate a iendship.
* gay friends experiment *
Of urse, the tradnal notn that gay men and straight men nnot be close iends is herently homophobic and unte. We propose gay-straight male iendships are not only possible, but that they n grow to be extremely rewardg. If they’re open-md about beiendg gay men and make the effort to try to fe iendships based upon mon terts, gay men should feel more fortable reciprotg.
So which straight men are the most likely to beiend gay men, and vice versa? We know that gay men are now g out at an earlier age. Gay men who disclose their sexual orientatn to their straight male iends earlier life may be able to build more open and hont iendships wh them to adulthood.