Being a gay man with a disability I developed a sensitivity to people staring at me or intimidating me while staring and it is getting out of hand. I get to the point where I can't stand it and it always bothers me. I feel like people are gossiping about me and my boyfriend because we are not married, living together, and not related. He's 46 and I am 23. We decided to move to Charleston, WV area because we were very poor desperate for the nice cheap place and decided this was a nice area for people in our situation to live in. It is the most liberal place in West Virginia but we get the occasional look from people especially when they find out we are not related and living together. I know I am oversensitive and just a little too paranoid but we seriously do get a dirty look from people at times especially when they find out we are not related. We are not open about our relationship because of discrimination unless they are gay and living in Charleston until we get lots of income. For example two African Men today got in their car at a local gas station and while my bf was inside they gave me a look of disgust and noticed they were talking about for like two minutes until they drove off. I don't look stereotypically gay besides having long hair which is not a gay stereotype to most people l think. One thing i did noticed the guy did a gesture where he put his right hand second finger on his right cheek telling something to the guy next to him in the car. I maybe just be paranoid but I am concerned for my safety at times.
Sorry if I sound rude or out of place.... If you're not open about your relationship, given no PDA... how would people know you two are gay? maybe I missed it. But generally speaking when two dudes are hanging out or live together, the typical thought is roommates or buds... given your age difference maybe even father and son. I do get stares myself though I don't know if they are good or bad, but I just shrug it off as jealousy for being true to myself, for they lack the courage to.
Well since we are poor for now we depend on human service organizations to help us out some and they now we are not father/son and sometimes we are affectionate with each other in public and don't realize it till later so people may see us doing affectionate stuff and gossip about it. You would think most people would say we are father/son and most do but its not exactly easy to hide a relationship. I am just afraid people would bring up allegations of incest/child abuse if they assumed he was my father or taking advantage of me because I have a mild disability or something like that.
