Gay Best Friend

Who's ever wanted a gay best friend? Someone to go shopping with, trade secret with, give you fashion tips...a pretty valuable friend to have, right?

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Why is the idea of a gay best friend so problematic? Many reasons...

1. It assumes gay men act a certain way (TV does this A LOT)
2. It highlights sexual orientation as something of importance beyond anything else about a person
3. It objectifies them, treats them like accessories

Basically, people care about having a gay best friend because they're gay. They care about the sexual orientation more than the person who matters much more.

In the following TED talk - What's Wrong With the Commodification of Gay Men, Mark Pampanin explains why turning someone's sexual orientation into a commodity and why assuming that being gay means x and y is wrong.

Not just that, he also says that being pro-gay has become somewhat of a trend, something to show how progressive and accepting people are.

Are you a gay man? What do you think about the GBF idea? Have you ever been treated this way?