I think that this opens the whole question of what is "masculine" and what is not. Men of all sexual persuasions pretty much have a "handbook" given to them by society, but we gay guys have to sit with a red pen and edit the "manual" to suit our own lives. That takes courage - surely a traditional, time-honored masculine trait. But even saying THAT is gonna get me clobbered by a lot of women, and rightly so. The whole thing starts becoming a confusing morass that I, for one, am not willing to sort through.
A long time ago, I got tired of trying to edit the "handbook", and I just "wrote" my own. I am a man. That is not defined by the gender of my bed partners, who I can knock down in a fight, how many beers I can knock back, how "manly" I walk or talk, or anything else that I consider irrelevant.
To me a man is someone who cares for those he loves, sticks to his convictions, gets up and tries again when life knocks him down, fights his demons with all his might, holds his head up and demands to be counted, never EVER gives up - and whether he is a s*hit-kickin Ennis-type, wears makeup and a feather boa, or falls somewhere in between, it doesn't make a damned bit of difference.
