A friend of mine just flat-out told me that he treats me differently because I'm gay.

So, context - After a few weeks of debating, I finally decided to work up the courage to talk to my friend about how I have a thing for him. Being the mature adult I am, I did this via the Internet. And he was relatively understanding. But he did say that he sort of had an idea already and has treated me differently throughout our friendship because of it.I'm hurt. This is the second time that this has happened from people within my graduate program. It makes me feel like people see me as some sort of predator. I have a very close friend who has told me that he initially distanced himself from me because of it.I guess there's not really much of a point to this post other than to get it out. I wish I wasn't so scary to people. I hate this part of me.