“The Gay Best Friend Must Die,” decrees HuffPo writer
Tre Easton says the "gay best friend" archetype is limiting and denies gay people agency
“The time has come for the gay best friend (or perhaps you prefer ‘GBF’) to, once and for all, experience a quick, clean and unequivocal death.”
— Huffington Post contributor Tré Easton, in a Feb. 27 column entitled, The Gay Best Friend Must Die, examining the archetype of the gay best friend that exhibits itself in popular culture via characters on shows like Will & Grace, Glee and Sex in the City. Easton claims that advances and increased support for the LGBT community have made it possible to move on from the archetype, which Easton says “works to calcify the idea of gay as other,” thereby limiting gay people to adhere to an outdated stereotype.
According to Easton, “the GBF is a narrow interpretation of the beautiful array of personalities that comprise the LGBTQ community. It’s the unfair distilling of gay men to just one of the many things that makes him the guy who you want to be around because of his wit, sparkling personality or great taste in music. You limit his full agency when you do this. More succinctly: Don’t put baby in a corner.”
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
