Is the Fear Factor at 55 a Real Phenomenon for Gay Men?

Contents:

• I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• AT 60 YEARS OLD, I BEME VISIBLE. GETTG OLD AS A GAY MAN STKS.
• THE GAY MAN'S GUI TO DATG AFTER 50
• THE VELVET MAFIA: THE GAY MEN WHO HELPED SHAPE MIC THE 60S

I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN

-- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar 's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn. Outsi lebacker Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay and to play a game Associated Prs ntributed to this report. Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". At s base, the joltg fear now is the realizatn of how limed that future is beg and about the chang I'm visibly, attentively, and subnscly regnizg, and perhaps beg more sensive to them as a gay man.

"50 is the new 40" -- that is still a popular mantra the gay muny that I always felt was more about nvcg onelf that 50 isn't so bad. Am I the only gay man who feels fear at 55? He has been unguard about his openns as a gay lumnist, his stggl wh weight, and the recent loss of visn his right eye.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

"But I know where you're g om and what you're gettg at: The celebratn of youth and bety is tense among many gay men, makg emotnally and psychologilly difficult to age. Is that some of might be too nsumed by the "youth and bety" syndrome Bni refers to for gay men?

Part of the ia of lookg healthy and mcled stems our generatn om the early years of HIV, and wh gay men who rried the vis termed not to be perceived as sick.

Why are we noticg this now more at 55, and why do make some of feel even more vulnerable beg gay? "We grew up whout many public mols of mted gay upl agg happily and gracefully together: If they were out there, they were as often as not closeted, and they certaly weren't public life. "Whether you're gay or straight, if you're sgle at 55, that do feel different om beg sgle at 45 or 35; you're likelier to ask yourself if you're ever gog to fd a sgle romantic partner to travel the distance wh?

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

"Occupatnal HazardIn the past year, four of my ntemporari have been laid off, and ightened me -- two of them sgle and gay. More ncern shown for keepg ls expensive youth vers an agg old gay man -- that's how I felt. "Workplace ageism is workplace ageism: a very real thg and ighteng event, but somethg that affects people straight and gay.

AT 60 YEARS OLD, I BEME VISIBLE. GETTG OLD AS A GAY MAN STKS.

It's not a sgularly gay phenomenon, " Bni said.

"What may be different for gay men above a certa age -- let's say 50, randomly -- is the bed effects of profsnal agg and romantic agg, by which I mean that I thk that we're more nsc of and hnted by lost youth and changed looks than straight men are, for many different reasons. Were iends, fay, and strangers lookg at me as an agg gay man?

THE GAY MAN'S GUI TO DATG AFTER 50

It's almost as if I'm tryg to act more "straight" so as not to be perceived as an aged gay. I am fightg , though, wh a foced termatn to jt be myself, whether that's noticed as gay, straight, old, young, or different. "If you mean some new fear of beg gay bee of the state of the world or suggtg that as we age, we get more timid about beg out, I thk the trajectory this untry is still toward greater equaly for LGBTQ people, spe the actns of the print and his admistratn, " Bni said.

THE VELVET MAFIA: THE GAY MEN WHO HELPED SHAPE MIC THE 60S

""Regardg the latter, no, I don't feel some new fear of beg openly or outwardly gay bee of my age, " he went on. I n't speak for other gay men our age, but I spect many, like me, rema que fortable our gay sks. "What sr me most at 55 has nothg to do wh beg gay.

Vcent Keh of MASCULAR Stud and Oliver Zke of Photomolekuel are pleased to announce the lnch of A Portra Isolatn, a project explorg emotnal and physil space the end of March 2020, as the COVID-19 global panmic grew spe and impact, gay men around the world were asked to subm self portras that reflected their experience of the ronavis lock-down. The ia behd the llectn was to show that gay men are affected by the crisis a siar way to everyone else but more so.