Gay and straight men

Indeed, establishing a friendship is often easier said than done, but it's far from impossible in our ever-connected world. Last year, I was the best man at Luke's wedding, and soon I'll be a groomsman for Dane's.

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But how can you solve such an issue? A straightforward solution could be pairing bad texters with texting enthusiasts. I'm excited to attend some more than others, but I've also found myself included in the wedding parties of more than a few.

Despite the jokes, in recent years, the loneliness epidemic, or at least the perception of suchhas been a persistent issue amongst Americans. Thanks to my longstanding friendships with so many straight men, I had become something of an anomaly.

Even so, one obstacle is communication. Someone needs to know how to tie a bow tie for the other men! They say opposites attract, and this can still apply beyond the romantic sense. He is one of the most intelligent and cultured men I know. And when I was dancing poorly at weddings, I was often the only gay man in sight.

According to some reports, two-thirds of men between the ages of 18 and 23 say, "No one really knows me. Similar to questions that loom about whether straight men and women can ever truly be platonic friends, the same question lingers over the friendships between gay and straight men.

I asked one of my gay friends about his experience with straight menand he felt there were "invisible social boundaries" which often prevented such friendships from emerging, let alone enduring. Look no further than " Straight Male Friend " from Saturday Night Live in which Bowen Yang proudly boasts, "Straight male friend is a low effort, low stakes relationship that requires no emotional commitment.

What was it that set my friendships apart, and what could be gleaned from having strong relationships that broke the boundaries between gay and straight men? Together, these best friends are reimagining masculinity Courtesy Jonathan Gregg & Tom Felix (provided) Tom Felix (left) and Jonathan Gregg (right) are gay and straight best friends.

If anything, their dynamics have been looked at as nothing more than a curiosity or a potential punching bag. I quickly realized many of those gay friends had very few, if any, straight male friends of their own. I had to agree with him.

I tried to do some digging online, but found that the benefits of gay-straight friendships haven't truly been addressed. And if data on loneliness is to be relied upon, it's overwhelmingly affecting men.

Plenty of other gays and, of course, women, but straight men were nowhere to be seen in these queer circles. The other is gay.

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Texting men can be a challengeand men have long been stereotyped as poor communicators. While my presence at so many weddings doesn't seem unusual at first, it wasn't until I started talking with some of my other friends—more specifically, gay friends—that I began to reconsider.

By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. In a world where loneliness is on the rise, the power of friendships between gay and straight men is more important than ever. But it also made me wonder how my friendships survived these invisible social boundaries.

As a queer man in a fraternity, my college career was straight men trying to explain away their queer tendencies as jokes and misunderstandings. As a young millennial at the tail end of my twenties, I receive what often feels like a never-ending stream of wedding invitations.