Eric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals. He has major league aspiratns, but his path has been much lonelier than he would prefer.
Contents:
- THE PERFECT DATE SHOWS JT HOW BADLY ROM-COMS STILL TREAT THEIR GAY BT FRIENDS
- 4 EASY AND ROMANTIC GAY DATE IAS:
THE PERFECT DATE SHOWS JT HOW BADLY ROM-COMS STILL TREAT THEIR GAY BT FRIENDS
Inter Boyiend Noah Centeo’s latt Netflix rom-, The Perfect Date, is full of the faiar clichés, cludg the sneaky soulmate hidg pla sight, the histrnic breakup at prom, and another rom- staple that isn’t all that fortg: the Gay Bt know this trope. The Gay Bt Friend is the sikick who exists for edic relief and solely to advance the plot of their straight BFF.
The ’00s brought Christian Cluels, Stanford Sex and the Cy, and Brandon Easy the current post-femist, supposedly woke rom- rurgence era, which I am eternally grateful for, the Gay Bt Friend trope endur. Wh the box-office succs of 2018’s Love, Simon, a perfect teen romance that fally starred a gay lead character, or the upg Billy Eichner gay rom- produced by Judd Apatow, there is some progrs beg ma, but that don’t mean straight rom-s no longer have to be held acuntable for their gay characters. In Set It Up, one of Netflix’s many 2018 rom-rom offergs, he plays Charlie’s (Glen Powell) gay roommate Dunn.
4 EASY AND ROMANTIC GAY DATE IAS:
He’s a gay jock. That’s the films that do away wh one of rom-’s most persistent quali (whe leads), we’re still left wh one big regrsive plot pot (unrveloped gay sikicks). In To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, one of the boys Lara Jean loved turns out to be gay, and while Lus be Lara Jean’s tsted iend and nfidant for the rt of the film, his role is to be LJ’s soundg is another Black GBF, and while his cln may seem like a good look for reprentatn — and the filmmakers’ may have had the bt of tentns — feels hollow when his sole purpose is to prop up other characters.
Dismantlg the rctive Gay Bt Friend trope is not a new nversatn. The stereotype is so well known, the rom- parody film Isn’t It Romantic had a nng gag about how gay characters are portrayed. The problem: s sole gay character didn’t have any pth, eher.
Isn’t It Romantic jt rerced the ia that gay people rom-s aren’t as servg as their own, rom- sikicks, regardls of race, genr or sexual orientatn, have always been bshed asi for bigger storyl (see “quirky BFF” rol played the ’90s and ’00s by Judy Greer and Kathryn Hahn) but silg queer characters as the Gay Bt Friend is damagg bee we know that LGBTQ+ reprentatn Hollywood is still severely lackg. There’s an argument to be ma that at least the movi have openly gay characters at all, sce we know how rare that is, but we should aim higher than jt g the rol as glorified props. The Gay Bt Friend character n be done right, like Gee My Bt Friend’s Weddg (a film ahead of s time) who turns out to be the unlikely hero of the film, or Sam 2018’s Blockers who gets her own g-of-age story as she wrtl wh her sexualy and losg her virgy on prom night wh a scery rarely afford to teen girls on screen or gay characters, let alone both.