Jaguars strength ach is first male ach a major US-based pro league to e out as gay - The Boston Globe

Contents:

• THE TROPE OF THE ‘GAY BT FRIEND’ MOVI AND TELEVISN, EXPLAED
• KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
• FRIENDSHIP TROUBLE: AN EXAMATN OF THE GAY BT FRIEND INTY AMERIN CONSUMER CULTURE
• SEARCH PARTY’S ELLTT IS THE LIM CASE OF THE ‘GAY BFF’
• JAGUARS STRENGTH ACH IS FIRST MALE ACH A MAJOR US-BASED PRO LEAGUE TO E OUT AS GAY

THE TROPE OF THE ‘GAY BT FRIEND’ MOVI AND TELEVISN, EXPLAED

While straight people haven't always been supportive of our rights, there's nothg they want more than a sassy and stylish gay bt iend to give them advice, read them when necsary, and never be aaid to speak the tth.

KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND

GLAAD revealed at a panel Augt that 62 gay and bisexual televisn characters were killed off on televisn the past two years, cludg on Orange Is the New Black, Hoe of Cards, Pretty Ltle Liars, The Walkg Dead, and Empire. From Aled Hchck's oedipal Bno Strangers on a Tra to his Leopold and Loeb stand-s Rope to the serial killer offg gay men the servedly much-maligned Cisg to the recent French film Stranger by the Lake, the praved homosexual has been a mastay of the big screen. Exampl of the evil and nnivg, while not necsarily murro, gay n be found Downton Abbey's footman Thomas, Orange Is the New Black's Pistella, Sndal's Cys, and Bat Motel's eratn of Norman.

Atralia's Wentworth rape to terrifyg effect while this season's Orange Is the New Black even clud a flashback sequence of gay male guard Pistella's rcerated love tert beg gang-raped. Queer people serve more than the mockery of trans/nonbary people seen the Zoolanr 2 character of All, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch, or the butt-of-gay-jok character Bradley Dirty Grandpa.

FRIENDSHIP TROUBLE: AN EXAMATN OF THE GAY BT FRIEND INTY AMERIN CONSUMER CULTURE

Often an important first step troducg queer storyl to mastream dienc, the GBF trope had a tenncy to rerce stereotyp about gay men: that their only terts are makeovers, shoppg and drama, that their stggl and relatnships fa to the background unls they're supportg a straight person's story, and that they only exist to be wise oracl about love and LGBTQ+ reprentatn Hollywood improv both onscreen and behd the mera, movi and TV shows are gettg creasgly self-aware, creatg gay characters who provi the ic relief we love while tearg down outdated ias.

SEARCH PARTY’S ELLTT IS THE LIM CASE OF THE ‘GAY BFF’

Perhaps the earlit example of the classic Gay Bt Friend character is 1984 movie The Woman Red, a Gene Wilr edy about a married man who be obssed wh a mol (Kelly LeBrock) after he se her skirt get blown up by a wd grate, Marilyn Monroe-style.

Rickie Vasquez (Wilson Cz) of ABC's short-lived cult classic My So-Called Life (1994-1995) is one of the first exampl of a gay character a high school ensemble seri -- but what mak him pecially noteworthy is that he challenged the Gay Bt Friend trope before was even a trope. Helen Hunt stars as Carol, a sgle mom and his love tert who "mak him want to be a better man, " while former Talk Soup host Greg Knear surprised dienc wh his imprsive actg chops as Simon, the gay neighbor who be iends wh the curmudgeonly Simon, an artist, is badly beaten up by a iend of one of his mols, his agent (Cuba Goodg Jr. She enlists the help of her gay iend Gee (Rupert Everett), who drops everythg to fly to Chigo, pretends to be Jul' fiance to make Michael jealo, and trolls the hell out of her while dispensg nuggets of wisdom about her love is such a fantasy of a character that he may as well be a unirn, but Everett is jt so charmg about the whole thg.

JAGUARS STRENGTH ACH IS FIRST MALE ACH A MAJOR US-BASED PRO LEAGUE TO E OUT AS GAY

The flash-forward at the end, wh all the characters beg one big happy fay, was progrsive for s time; but the ia that a gay man uld be attracted to a woman if she plays her rds right is a b unfortable.