I've been out for over two months. All my friends I've had a chance to chat to since April know and have been very accepting, as have my immediate family. Really, I've basically only got extended family members and "friends of the family" to tackle next, and it could end up being that my parents take the weight of my shoulders and do it for me. All in all, these past few months have ended up being great. In fact, I may go as far as to say that they are maybe some of the best of my life so far. However, part of me feels a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place with regards to meeting new people. My situation: just a bit before I had came out (September 2012), I moved to Manchester after having moved around the UK and Europe constantly for the past few years, and have been making new friends here ever since. Most of my friends I've made so far are indeed straight, be they male or female. Anyway, I'm trying to meet other gay people, for friendship purposes and potentially more should things go that way. It may change as I'm soon moving into a new flat with a guy who actually is gay, but so far, I don't seem to have had much luck. I've been trying to meet people using chat and dating apps, but I've had mixed results. I've been on "gay nights out" with straight female friends, but a lot of them have been busy recently (which I perfectly understand), so I've not had much chance there either. That said, I am of the firm belief that my sexuality should not dictate my lifestyle. To my mind, forcing myself to do so is almost a form of exclusion, and I feel blessed to not be in a place where the nature of my minority status doesn't make me a pariah. I don't want to directly or indirectly shun my straight friends by having my social life revolve exclusively (or almost exclusively) around LGBT circles. Ultimately, good friends are good friends, but I feel that I should uphold my own philosophy and ethos as well. So my questions, I suppose, are: 1. Are there any other ways you could suggest of meeting other gay people? Or do you think I probably am doing the right things and it's just going to take time? 2. Do any people on here have two separate friendship circles (i.e. a predominantly gay and a predominantly straight one)? If so, how would you balance between the two? Anyway, thanks in advance if you can lend a few words of advice or support.
