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I didn't want to be the first to say it, but it does feel very inappropriate and gay to ask another straight man that I barely know to hang out one-on-one.

Which means that you need to meet potential friends through and with a group which makes it a lot more difficult.

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That's a common form of homo-phobia (phobia as in fear, not as in hate). It's the attitude I see in people insecure about their own sexuality, who see a problem where there is none.

Giving it another name ("homophobia", "insecure about their own sexuality") does not make the issue go away for the people who suffer from it.

You don't magically grow more confident about your sexuality (or your whatever) by hearing that you are insecure about it. Or at least, I don't know how.

I can also relate to the awkwardness of asking someone to hang out one-on-one. It isn't necessarily borne out of sexual insecurity, but rather out of social awkwardness.

Why do you feel that way?

Well, I wouldn't invite a woman I barely knew to meet with me one-on-one unless I was trying to signal sexual interest to her. So I guess my brain is somehow trying to be consistent?

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