Heterosexual men

In my days of coming out, back in the late 1980's, it wasn't easy finding loving, compassionate, honorable and honest straight men. I mean men I could look up to, want to be like, and if they were around, be friends with. If I met a guy that seemed super nice and was also straight, nine times out of ten he was a "Christian" wanting to save me, an Amway dude wanting to sell me or a married guy wanting to cheat on his wife.
Anti-gay. Sexist. Self-righteous.  Usually having no compassion and little tolerance of anything that did not mesh with what they believed the world should look like.

The world has changed. Maybe it's me and maybe it's the world. Or a little of both.

To be fair, I was in the military and lived in the South. No, I am not stereotyping as we all know that now and then there are and always have been amazing people even within communities that were not so amazing.

These days I find myself completely surrounded by loving, supportive, compassionate, honorable, non-cheating, honest and inspiring men. Straight men. Totally heterosexual. And completely filled with these attributes.

Social media has helped. I can engage with folks all over the world. Indeed, our blog has connected us with some pretty amazing men who are awesome husbands, boyfriends, partners, activists, voices for the voiceless, fathers and who are filled with love and compassion.

I am grateful. My life is way better having all of these men around. They have opened my mind to a whole new reality. They inspire me to be a better husband, a better friend, a more loving activist, a healthier man and a stronger runner. They are amazing examples of who I want to be as a man.

I am not going to name all of them. I hope they know, that through word or deed, I have made it completely clear to them how grateful I am for them and that they are on this list. I am thinking of many of them while I write this.

To all of you amazing straight men out there, thank you!

And thanks for reading this!