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There is truth to the article. Most people do need indepth and meaningful conversations if they want a sense of belonging. However, thanks to homosexuality being a huge factor, male relationships have been largely curtailed.

The fact that many of us have these indepth,and meaningful conversations on Freerepublic as opposed to having them over a beer is proof of this.

I would look in a different direction over the lack of male relationships in today's world. A group more culpable than homosexuals is (or was, I do not know if they still exist) Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Think back to our fathers time. Back in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s guys would stop in the local tavern and shoot the breeze with their friends before dinner. The pubs and bars have been the meeting place of guys for centuries. Today, anybody with any sense of responsibility doesn't want to take a chance that one beer might lead to their life being ruined. So instead we today head right home every day. The only interaction guys have with each other outside of work is usually through their kids sports. I had one guy I know say that without his kids games he would have no social life at all, and I bet that is true for most of the other guys too. Nobody wants to condone drunk driving, but the unintended consequences has been a complete shutting down of the traditional male’s social life. I speak from a middle age guys perspective, maybe those younger than me have made up the slack with their electronic do-dads. But I for one would have enjoyed stopping at the local tavern for a beer or two with my friends and neighbors.

“However, thanks to homosexuality being a huge factor, male relationships have been largely curtailed.”

I have a very hard time believing that any man is curtailing his male friendships because he’s worried about appearing gay.

I suspect it’s more about the rise of isolating activities like video games and the Internet (we used to watch football games together in bars, now everybody watches at home to track their fantasy stats) combined with economic pressures to work more and more.