Dating Websites for Gays

One of the primary beneficiaries of online dating has been the LGBT community. Singles can look for partners of their choice without fear or hesitation and they have a far larger pool of potential partners to choose from than before. You know that other profiles at such sites are all here with the express purpose of finding a same-sex partner to love and date. Best of all, today there are numerous gay dating sites where you can look for a partner compatible with your personality, interests and even relationship needs. Thus if you are looking for a long term relationship you need not waste time scouring hundreds of profiles on general gay dating sites but straightaway sign up with one which  screens the marital status of its members or has a stricter joining policy. On the other hand if all you want is a casual hook-up, you don’t have to tie yourself in knots taking complicated compatibility tests or filling out lengthy questionnaires; you can simply sign up with a casual gay dating site and straightaway hook up with a suitable member. But just like in real world, success in finding a suitable partner online lies in knowing where to look. So if you are a gay single and looking for a same-sex partner, here are some sites you can check out.

Gay.com is one of the largest gay dating sites with supposedly more than three million profiles. Apart from adequate viewing and searching features, the site offers specialized gay content such as videos, advice and forums. One of the biggest attractions at gay.com is the events section which allows you to view gay related and recommended events, night life and hang outs in your city or local scene.

However the most popular site is the field of online gay dating according to Hitwise, is adam4adam.com probably that the site is totally free although you can donate to remove all advertising from the interface. Also the site doesn't discourage 'professionals' from signing up so it is a fair choice if you are looking for some adult gay action.

A gay-dating site which claims to have one of the largest memberships is GayFriendFinder.com. The site has a vast membership. Gays from any religion, ethnicity and in any age range can sign up with the site which at present is available only in English. Even though the site has a pg-rated environment and does not allow nudity, the kinds of relationships offered are mostly on the casual and fling side. A special feature at this website is the ability to create a private network of members and communicating with them by flash IMC or instance message center. Essentially this involves choosing the members you are most comfortable with and then inviting them to join your personal network. Member participation is encouraged by in-house magazines, blogs, quizzes, polls, photo ratings and message boards.

Arrived relatively recently on the online day dating scene is gaydating.com is directed towards adults, including both men and women who are looking for same-sex relationships. One of its advantages over other gay-dating sites is that it has wider language options including English, Spanish, German and Portuguese. At this site, while creating his profile a user will be required to submit additional details about himself like physical attributes, professional or educational background, lifestyle habits like smoking and relationship status like single or otherwise. Yet another aspect of profile creation may ask a user to specify his requirements in a partner and his sexual preferences.

Even though gay-dating sites offer numerous advantages, there is no reason why you should limit your search to this niche area. There are many mainstream dating portals which allow members to search for same-sex partners and with a far wider reach, very often such sites have a bigger dating pool than niche dating sites. One such site is match.com which is reputed as one of the largest dating websites in the general category besides being the earliest to make use of revolutionary changes in the web world to offer users a chance to find and meet dating partners. Apart from the compatibility tools and extensive search options, here you will find the famous match.com guarantee according to which if you purchase a six-month membership and still don't meet anyone special, match.com will add an additional six months to your membership at no additional cost.

However if you are looking for something steamier, you can check out amateurmatch.com. The site bills itself as sexiest adult dating community” on the internet and has a wide range of options on relationship types like heterosexual, gay, lesbian and bisexual. But the majority of site features like searching and communication are open only to paid members; even in case of viewing options, only the basic ones like standard profile and a photo are open to free members – in order to view multiple photos, detailed profile and videos you again need to be a paid member.

Yet another casual dating site which is open to gays is foxy-singles.com; the site has one of the easiest and fastest registration processes. A user simply has to submit details like email, gender, relationship type, location and username in order to create a basic profile. There are no cumbersome personality tests or lengthy compatibility questionnaires to fill out.

Even if you are not interested in adult dating sites, there are many other general sites where gay singles can look for partners. One of the most interesting of these is howaboutwe.com. Instead of seeking connections based on partners and then exploring the possibility of going out, this site encourages users to directly go out on dates based on mutual interests.
Here users need not waste time with endless browsing for like-minded profiles and online messaging. The site is only a means to an end – namely going on a real date and not an end itself unlike sites which primarily promote online dating.

However no matter where you look, there are certain things to keep in mind while signing up with dating site. The usual tips of profile creation, coming up with a witty heading and choosing a photograph apply in case of online gay dating as well; however what is especially pertinent for a gay single is to come clean on your expectations since in this case, the issue of sexuality is made even more complex by those of family, coming out and cultural acceptance.  Specify the age group, occupation, physical characteristics and other criteria to which you would like your partner to belong. Even if you are on a gay dating site, be clear about your expectations on sexual orientation – for instance whether you want your partner to be strictly a gay guy or if being bisexual is alright too. Don’t be vague on qualities you are looking for, like somebody who is ‘interesting’, ‘caring’, responsible’. It is doubtful whether anybody would be honest enough to own up to be boring, unfeeling and irresponsible. Rather be specific about the qualities you are looking for like someone who has gone to college, who has travelled widely or one who has had a music album published.

Another question that you may have to deal with when dating online as a gay single is the sexual aspect. In some cases there is too much pressure to hook up with someone you have met at a gay dating site so as to have sex. There is no doubt that in gay dating, sex actually plays a vital developmental role in helping a man to explore his sexuality during the coming-out process and forming his identity as a gay man. Gay men who are newly out wished to make up for lost time and sex was one way of freely discovering their new identity which had remain repressed for so long. However with different kinds of sexuality receiving more social acceptance as well as legal protection, members of the LGBT community now aspire to a more evolved kind of relationship, where they can date, go out, make love and with the right person settle into a committed relationship and even perhaps marry and raise a family.

Finally it is important to know about online dating safety, whether you are straight or gay. Avoid giving out your personal details like full name, email address and home phone number to members on dating sites. When going out in real life, ensure that you meet at a public and safe place since there is real danger that the person you met online is not really who he claims to be.

Thus if you are able to move ahead with positivity as well as common sense, online dating can be a very effective option of finding other gay singles, whether for casual dating, companionship or long-term commitment.