Friendship with older gay men

I find the younger gay guys in the "community" to be very reticent about having older friends. Even when I was in the "young" category, I always welcomed older friends. At 43 years old, the people I consider my best friends (besides my boy fiend) are 33, 38, 41, 44, 55, and 60. I have always gravitated towards people older than me for friendship (even though I'm usually attracted to younger guys for relationship material).

I have always sought out friends that were smarter and more experienced than myself. Getting through life is difficult enough without being able to rely on friends that have "been there, done that."

However, the thing that gets my goat about many older gay men is they continually are "on the make". I noticed this when I was younger and just recently sitting in a gay bar in Paris. I was having a great conversation with a couple of guys that were both quite a bit older than me. The both hit on me and one of them just would not take no for an answer. The "sorry, I'm in a monagamous relationship" answer just did not cut it. Even the "sorry, even if my relationship were open or if I cheated on my boyfriend, I'm just not attracted to older guys" answer did not cut it either.

Any older guys that are reading this, in my humble opinion, younger guys need you. They need your insight, your experience, and your knowledge. Unwanted sexual advances are not needed and they keep younger men from forming friendships with you. Trust me, if that younger man is interested in older men, he will let you know.