Reaching out...

[JCLA]

This is kinda weird for me....because haven't actually asked anyone to be my friend since I was 3 or 4 years old. I do have to face the fact that I just don't have any gay friends for me to relate to, have coffee with, go hang out with.

I'm reaching out here. I'm looking to actually develop a few good friendships If at all possible with you cool people who live in Los Angeles like me.

[Chip]

Hi, and welcome! You're totally in the right place. A lot of the people here were once in the same place you were, with no one they could talk to or share with about the sorts of issues that we talk about here.

The only catch is... for security reasons, EC is a place for online support. To keep the site, and all its members safe, we don't allow people to share any off-site contact information -- basically anything that would allow people to communicate other than through EC -- until you have become a full member (which requires a couple of weeks of regular posting and at least 50 substantive posts.)

Once you have that, you can contact people via PM, but even then, we don't encourage people to think of EC as a place to meet people in person, but more of a place to share support. And I think you'll find that the friendships you can develop on here, and the resources and support you can get here, will be pretty strong and meaningful if you give it some time.

Feel free to contact me or any of the other advisor team if you have things you want to talk about one-on-one for now, or continue to tell us about yourself and the issues that concern you here in the forums. You can also send messages to other members (but not any contact info) via their "walls" and start conversations that way.

I hope you stick around. You'll find this to be a wonderful and supportive community.