As a straight man, I feel like I shouldn’t have a lot to say here, but I do.

First off, toxic masculinity makes me very uncomfortable. I’ve found over the years that I tend to gravitate towards friendships with queer people, and I find a lot of straight men very off putting.

But it’s not black and white. I find the younger queer crowd, at least the circle that I feel into, to be very kind and accepting. E.g. you can identify as whatever gender you want and people will support you. I find that very touching.

But I’ve also met a lot of problematic gay men. People who will speak rudely of woman because they are gay and I guess they feel they need to prove to the world that they don’t like woman 🤷. And it’s not just me, because I’ve seen the woman around me, including one who is bi, feel very uncomfortable at the comments made at them by certain gay men.

Like it’s not that hard. If someone isn’t being disrespectful then don’t be rude to them. Sometimes I feel like toxic masculinity plagues all men, regardless of their sexual orientation.

Is this just me, or has anyone else noticed this?

edit: probably worth saying, as I typed this it turned into a tangent. Just want to emphasize I understand the importance of having spaces for queer people