You are completely free to do that. Most people get lonely - everyone doesn't need a romantic partner per se, but a lot of people do and that's fine as well. Everyone has to figure out what they want, and what they're willing to do to make it happen.
As a stranger on the internet, I'll just draw attention to "mostly tolerate" as something a therapist (which I am not) would probably want you to elaborate on. That does not sound like a healthy relationship, which explains why you take a dim view of them.
Yes, terrible to "attack" the poor guy like that. He's just concerned for the level of the discourse, poor thing.