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My Best Friend is Gay — He’s Not My Gay Best Friend
There’s an entire acronym for it: GBF. The apparent equivalent of BFF but, you know, for gays.
So why is it than I am more than less of a fan of this phrase? Well, this is where it gets complex.
My best friend is like my brother. He has seen me at my best of times, and the times I ugly cried in the back of my car. I helped him when he frantically, decided to last-minute move to Vegas, and I was there with open arms when he came back two weeks later because he couldn’t stand the heat — literally.
I love him more than words can describe and out of all of my friends we are the closest.
Now, what if when he referred to me, he instead called me his “blonde best friend” or his “straight best friend.” Instead of just referring to me as a person, I was attributed to a particular characteristic of my personality or appearance.
Well, that would kind of suck. And that’s why I don’t call him my gay best friend.
Because he is my absolute best friend simply because he’s himself; not because he’s gay.
Identifying him by that one part of himself is belittling what we have and attributing him to a particular stereotype.