When you’re in the bromantic matchmaking business, you have to walk a fine line. On one hand, you don’t want your business to be confused with the gay dating sites. It’s just bad for business if your target market is confused about what you offer. On the other hand, you don’t want to be perceived as homophobic. After all, a nightclub that attracts mostly straight singles and couples doesn’t normally ban gays. Personally, I don’t believe that online sites should be much different in this regard – and in fact, a few of the members on seekBromance are openly gay.
So why the mention of heterosexuality in the “bromance” definition on the main page? Well, just because it’s already an agreed-on part of the meaning among most people who use the word bromance in their vocabulary. This can be a sticky issue for guys looking for a bromance-like relationship if either or both of them aren’t hetero. (And yes, guys, those types of friendships exist.) In the case of a straight guy being close friends with a gay guy, some people have dubbed the relationship a “homomance” or a “hobromance.” I prefer the second term just because I think it sounds better. As far as I know, there is no special word for two gay men in a platonic friendship.
The point is this: If you enjoy hitting on girls at a bar, but your bro enjoys hitting on other guys, that’s absolutely no reason not to build and maintain a close friendship. If the two of you share other common interests, and have similar outlooks on life, don’t waste that just because it’s too hard to find a place to go cruising together. You don’t meet potentially close friends every day.
The other thing I want to mention is that, if a guy with a different orientation wants to converse with you and possibly meet you, be open to it. As long as both of you are “out” to each other, and as long as neither of you tries to “convert” the other – which is impossible anyway – sexuality never has to be an issue. And at the end of the day, it never should. Friends are friends; it’s that simple.
