My (27f) boyfriend (31m) won’t wear his mask in public, and I don’t know how to deal with it.

For the record, we are both very liberal. My boyfriend is a combat veteran and has seen a lot of horrific things, resulting in the development of a significant distrust of the government which sometimes verges on paranoia. This is usually not a problem, and has actually led to some really meaningful conversations between us. However, he sometimes lets his conspiracy theories dictate his decision making and his opinions. Over the past few days he has expressed more and more frustration and resentment over being “forced” to wear the mask by the government, repeatedly referring to people who wear them as “sheep” and quietly and disparaging retail workers, restaurant employees, etc who politely ask him to wear the mask. I have tried to explain to him multiple times why the masks and social distancing are necessary, not only for his safety but also everyone else’s around him. I have also expressed that the language he uses to talk about this makes me upset, to no avail.

Today we decided to go grocery shopping for the first time in a while as we were out of almost everything, and to my surprise he took his mask off after about ten minutes inside, claiming that it was bothering him. It was a busy time and the store was quite full of shoppers. I am not a confrontational person, but I calmly told him that I wished he would put his mask back on. When he ignored my comment I asked if he had heard me, to which he replied that he had but that he just “needs to live his life.” I gently explained that there were lots of other people in the store including elderly folks, and once again explained that he needs to be thinking about protecting others in addition to himself. No dice. The rest of the trip was a bit tense and I tried to get us out of the store as quickly as possible.

I have no idea what to do moving forward, aside from trying to discuss this with him again and leaving him at home for future shopping trips. This seems to be a situation where, as much as I love him and as intelligent and compassionate as he is, logic is completely off the table on this one. My boyfriend is also a headstrong, confident, and somewhat impulsive man so I need to be careful about how I approach further conversation as he reacts poorly to feeling like someone is shaking their finger at him or “sitting him down in the principal’s office” as he calls it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!