OK so now that I'm out to well only my best friend I've had a bit of a confidence boost to the point where I want to start experimenting with my sexuality by dating and such but finding gay guys my around my age in the Portland metro area isn't quite so common unless it's at places like clubs and such but those types of places aren't really my seen just for the fact that I don't find it appealing to go to places like that and I'm not very comfortable joining or going to GSA or things like that since I'm only out to one person and wouldn't feel to comfortable being there. So I guess my question is, is there such places where you could meet other gay youth guys without it being some kind of group thing but more like a regular hang out place?
Well, the two big places (that most urban areas have) are LGBT clubs/bars and LGBT support groups. Unless Portland has something beyond those two, those are your real options if you're looking for "hotspots". It would be worth doing a Google search or something though. I know my city's LGBT center also hosts things like "gay/bi men's running group" and stuff, so there might be other options. The bottom line is though, if you want to find a lot of gay people at once, you've gotta hit a hotspot. You might need to weigh how strong your desire is to meet new people vs. your opposition to going to hotspots you aren't comfortable with.
There's also places like meetup.com where you'll find (in their words, slightly corny) a MEME (Meetup Everywhere about Most Everything). Searching in NYC, there are LGBT groups to do just about everything imaginable. Looking around Portland, there's a gay man's book club if you're into that, a LGBT social club (which has 748 members!), and a few others.
Well I mean I wouldn't completely mid going to a club is just that like I've said I'm only out to my best friend and he's accepted me but hasn't completely come around and it would take some time for him to be a supportive in a sense that he would accompany me to such places and I'm a really shy person so I don't think I could go alone at least not the first time, But I feel that maybe if I'm around more gay guys I might start getting more comfortable coming out to people and it could help me just get that little push.
Yeah, I'm trying to find some gay people my age. Though I live in London, GSA's are only taking off now, so there aren't many, and my local gay youth thing takes place at the same time as my piano lesson, so I'd have to make some sort of excuse. I go to a Catholic school, which, though fairly liberal so they don't attack gay people EVER, has no sort of GSA thing, and of the 1300 of us, there's one out gay guy, and I don't know him :/
