How To Date A Gay Man

5 Tips On How To Date A Gay Man

• Embrace Your Masculine & Feminine – Regardless of what role or position you play in the “man-on-man” dating scene, you’ve got to go where no man’s gone before – or at least go where you’ve not gone before. Dig into yourself and truly own both aspects of you – your masculine and feminine. The magical mystery tour that unfolds in this exploration is the discovery of who you are and what you want in another guy from both your masculine and feminine perspectives. If you want a compassionate caretaker, then go get one. Finding yourself more of an “I lead, you follow” dominant type, then own it, but own it in a manner that makes your potential relationships work.
• Repeat After Me, “Men Are Boys!” – I’m not knocking my gender, nor am I generalizing gay men, but let’s get real. Men are just boys with bigger toys. Even the most evolved men -- you know those highly aware and conscious guys -- retreat into thumping their chests and marking their territories from time to time. It’s a dominate characteristic of most men, and the sooner you embrace it, go with it, and see it in yourself, the easier it will be to thrive in an intimate relationship with the man/boy you’re chasing. It’s true, men will also be boys, and men will be men. It’s up to you how you respond and step into relationship with this reality.
• Men Say What You Want To Hear...Mostly – Ask any woman who’s dated men. One of the biggest challenges they face is finding a straight shooting man. Before you go all Sasha Fierce on me, think about it and look at yourself. How many times a day do you waffle around, avoid being vulnerable, and only say what you think someone wants to hear? Yep, I see you nodding, even though you don’t want to admit that it’s true. Now that we clearly see our stuff, let’s change the paradigm. Step into a space that at first may cause your dates to run, and make you want to crawl under the table because your vulnerability just got served up. Be honest, be your authentic self, and say what you want to say, not what you think he wants to hear. In the blissful end, you will land the man that you don’t yet realize you’re supposed to be with.
• Admit It’s Not That Different – Regardless of what you think, very few who’ve come through the closet doors rarely do so without having had some dating experience. Granted, it was with a female, usually stemming from a need to hide their truth, be accepted by the guys, or play into a limiting belief of “This too shall pass.” Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your vantage point, the experience gave you dating and relational experience. In those moments of “false dating," you still learned the basics, and the basics still apply. Your heart will race and get broken. There’ll be times you’re more into them then they are you. And yes, it is a universal truth, sometimes the appetizer tastes great but the main course just doesn’t fill you up. So before you go all “Gay Pride” on the dating scene and scream “It’s completely different for gay men," take a step back and ask yourself, “Is it really that different?”
• The Candy Store Has Many Flavors To Enjoy, So Enjoy! – It’s not surprising to see gay men travel one of two common paths in the dating scene. Ironically, extremism on both paths seems to be the de facto standard. Path #1 - Gay men are either so driven to sample as many flavors as possible in the candy store of men that they can’t keep up with their own comings and goings, no pun intended. Path #2 -  They deflect and reject before they ever take the chance to inspect the what a guy has to offer behind the external wrapper. So it’s not all that surprising that society labels gay men as “big ho’s” or “commitment-phobic.” Truth be told, taking the middle road of each extreme tends to lead to a more balanced way of being in relationship with self and the hottie behind door #2. Sampling the candy without it leading to a stomachache also enables you to find Mr. Right because you at least tried the candy before rejecting it without a taste.

Getting your feet wet as a gay man in the dating scene is like driving a car. Unless you put your hands on the wheel, the key in the ignition, and your foot on the gas, you’ll never know how the car performs or how good of a driver you can be behind the wheel. Plus, you can never experience anything until you experience something.

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Ready to find the truth about why you’re not stepping into the gay dating scene and finding Mr. Right vs. Mr. Right Now? Coming Out Coach Rick works with gay men and men just coming out of the closet, helping them find the courage and confidence to create a powerful sense of self as gay man so they can more fully embrace the lives they desire. For more information please visit www.rickclemons.com.