Is There Hope For Me Yet?

I was told that if a guy go out and play in the “bushes”, bookstores, bathhouses, bars, and or clubs isn’t relationship material. Is this true, because I would like to give up playing in the “bushes” and want to be in a committed relationship, because I stated that I will be 40 in 7 years, and I do not want to be doing that forever and catch a VD, get in trouble with the law, and last, have to fight off stupid people who want to harm to me.

Someone told me that I might be damaged goods, and can’t be in a relationship because of I was going out and sticking my “manhood” in every hole that is willing. and, that I am not relationship material, because I do not know how to commit to one person. I am scared of getting hurt. I have seen relationships with other black gay men and some of them crashed and burned, and I do not want to end up that way. Also, when I came out at the age of 21 without a mentor to show me what to do and not what to do, I was told that if I get into a relationship, it would be like prison. I can't go and hang out with my friends, can't look at other people, and last, it's like having a ball and chain around the ankle. and I was running away from relationships like the plague. And now I wish I was in one. What the hell wrong with me? and to end, I run to the "losers" and away from the ones that are positive thinking, acting, kind, and Godly. To end, I heard someone say that once a guy is labeled a hoe, no one would want him after they find out what I was doing sexually with other men. I get tested every 6 months for Sexually Transmitted Disease’s which the tests comes back clean and I am always safe when comes to sex with other people.

I am pretty much hurt by what this person said to me. Am I “damaged goods”? Or do I have a shot at love and romance in a committed relationship? I do not to be lonely and alone at the age of 60, because I picture myself paying a young guy to be with.