Do Gays and Macho Men Get Along?

Can gays and macho men mix? Does water and parafin mix?

These are just some of the biggest questions that can only really be explained more practically, with mostly a standard response. While I'm tempted to say no, of course referring to the former, the answer lies in quite a few scenarios.

There's this certain guy I follow on Social Media who happens to be a well known Journalist. He's pretty likeable and we may be almost compatible, professionally and intellectually speaking that is, but for one reason or another, all the times we've met, and all chatted on the online-scape, we've never really 'gelled'.

This journalist is not threateningly attractive, so there's nothing short circuiting me when I'm anywhere near him, but he's definitely macho - the kind of guys who are everyone's friend at the bar, over a game of rugby or Formula One. He's the type that still draws the line over hugging another guy or even sitting with your thighs too close.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not at all effeminate, though admittedly we all have our moments when we subconsciously become 'gay-er'. I'm your classic case mister discreet who transitioned from buying black ice to drinking Heineken or Carlsberg, and loving it. I happen to enjoy watching Football, to the detriment of my closest friend, so on the surface I really would 'gel' with the macho men... yeah?

Honestly, I usually feel kind of uncomfortable when I'm around extremely straight men - a squirmish discomfort at the possibility that one of them may notice a wrong gesture, record something and you come out the pink elephant of the crew or hear a miscalculated slightly pitchy tone to my voice.

Then my gay friends always have the notion that men who come across as extremely homophobic, or sometimes the macho men of the group, tend to either be in the closet, or more receptive towards advances from same sex quarters. It's all a facade then, right?

Am I the only one who has such fears? Surely not!

With the amount of pretense I have to go through, around the crew, around my folks or at work, in order to keep things under wrap, you'd think I was paid for discretion! How long will I be able to keep this up?