Nearly all of my straight friends have girlfriends, so as a closeted gay dude I feel left out. I don't want to risk coming out at high school, I can't deal with all of that yet, and I'm not into any of the already out people at my school.
I missed out dating too. It's not as uncommon as you might think and it's definitely not a tragedy. However, you could let your gaydar work for you if you are interested in someone.
Welcome to lonely closeted high schoolers town; population : A LOT. I'm gonna be blunt : you only have so many options. Either you date outside of high school, or come out and put yourself in the gay dating pool in your school (which seems to be more of a fish tank than a pool but my high school's a glass of water so, yeah), stay as you are right now but still try to give hints to any hypothetical crush (which is hard as heck) or stay like you are right now, find something to do to appease the loneliness and wait. How long? Who knows. Sadly it's a reality that you may not be dating until college of maybe later. Times are better for gay people (at least in most parts of the world) but that doesn't mean we gay teens have equal dating opportunities yet. A lot of us still have their young years robbed from them, and you'll have to learn everything others are learning right now in terms of relationship and dating later in your early adulthood, but you'll learn.
I missed out on dating in high school...and college, too. (I only figured out my sexuality just as my college years ended.) But I'd like to think I turned out OK. If you're not ready to come out yet, that's totally fine. If I'd have any advice in the interim, it'd be to keep working on yourself. Befriend yourself, like yourself, love yourself. Once you do that, you'll be a lot more prepared to date once you ARE ready. Lex
It may seem like everyone is dating, but there are a LOT of people who identify as straight who will not date in high school. Others have already given you some things to consider, but also you need to ask yourself if you actually want a relationship right now? If you do, that's fine but you'll have a few things to work out. If you don't, that's also fine. Wanting to focus on studying or if you play any sports etc that also works whether true or not is always a good reason if people start asking. you have the rest of your life ahead of you. Your high school years do not have to define the person you become!
You're not missing out on much, you're avoiding all the petty drama that comes with a person dating while in high school.
