I'm a bit late spotting this thread Northerner, but belated congrats for coming out
Personally, I don't really care what others think, I told most of my family, my friends and colleagues within a few weeks of meeting my love. I even told my wife about her mainly to get her to hurry up with our divorce, although that doesn't seem to have happened yet
Sure most people looked at me as if to say 'what are you doing, you are going to get ripped off, she probably already has a husband or a boyfriend, she's only after your money or a British passport...', you know all the usual rubbish people say to all of us on here. A few people have been braver and said it to my face, and I've heard some of the behind my back comments, including those from my wife.
Like some of the others have said, we will prove them all wrong. 5 months to the day after we first met in Singapore, our relationship is still strong. Anything from an hour to 3 hours a day for 5 months on Skype, Yahoo, Google, Facebook..etc, plus 11 days with her in January and 18 more to come in April tell me that our love is genuine, and whilst i don't doubt she sees me as security, she wouldn't continue if she didn't love me first and foremost. I can also guarantee that she will cost me a lot less than my wife has, and so what? I can't take it with me when I'm gone, and after 15 years of unhappiness I am going to be happy for the rest of my life, and screw anyone whoo doesn't support me or wants to see me fall on my face