He does, or at least it seems like a big deal to him. I didn't know it existed before he showed it to me.
This is a hard story to fabricate given my circumstances. Not many bars here (that aren't full of knife-wielding homophobes), and the ones there are I wouldn't go to. There is one restaurant/bar that students go to, but he has been to it several times and I've never been to it. It isn't the kind of place people would hit on someone.
Use your creativity. You can be waiting for a bus at a bus stop, waiting for a train, or whatever and had a conversation with another man.
Or you could be at another city. Is it that hard to come up with a simple story that you met a gay person?
It's not like you have to fabricate a story that you were born in Antarctica.
Why do you want to know anyway? Do you want to have a relationship with him or you just don't feel comfortable if he turns out to be gay and sharing a room with you?