Heterosexual and gay men n heal and grow as a rult of their iendships.
Contents:
- CAN GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN REALLY BE FRIENDS?
- GAY MEN AND STRAIGHT MEN AS FRIENDS
- WHAT THE WORLD CAN LEARN FROM GAY-STRAIGHT FRIENDSHIPS
CAN GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN REALLY BE FRIENDS?
New rearch explor the benefs of iendship between gay and straight men. * gay straight friends *
McKellan is a gay man who me out 1988, and although 33 years have passed sce he me out, n still be shockg to the world to see such a close same-sex iendship that cross sexual inti. Along wh his supervisor, Robb Travers, he lnched a study that surveyed 350 straight men and 275 gay or bisexual men om across North Ameri. Siar to qutns that loom about whether straight men and women n ever tly be platonic iends, the same qutn lgers over the iendships between gay and straight men.
A bromosexual iendship is a nonsexual iendship between two men, where typilly one iend is gay (or bisexual), and the other is straight. In days past, this may have seemed as unlikely as a iendship between a ln and a moe, given the tradnally high levels of homophobia among straight men. McKie’s rearch reported that straight participants felt that a gay iend ma for the ultimate wgman bee the gay iend uld help to attract prospective partners for the straight iend.
GAY MEN AND STRAIGHT MEN AS FRIENDS
* gay straight friends *
Other rearch has shown that women prefer iendships wh gay vers straight men, partly bee the threat or loomg qutn of sexual attractn is renred moot. However, straight men bromosexual iendships have perhaps learned how to harns this ease of iendship between straight women and gay men for their own advantage.
McKie noted that the straight men felt their gay iend was able to make succsful troductns to straight women bee the women tsted their gay male iends to troduce them to a good person. Gay men also reported unique advantag to havg a straight wgman when pursug their own datg goals.
WHAT THE WORLD CAN LEARN FROM GAY-STRAIGHT FRIENDSHIPS
Gay men McKie’s rearch reported that their straight male iends often play the role of ‘matchmaker’ and troduce them to another of their gay iends. The lack of petn for the same prospective partners allows the iendship to flourish a way that may be hred to some gree for gay or straight men iendships wh men who share the same sexual orientatn. For gay men, iendship qualy wh a straight male iend was particularly high when the iendship pre-dated the gay man g out.
Havg a gay iend n open straight men up to thkg differently about LGBTQ people general. Straight men also reported havg more emotnally vulnerable nversatns wh their gay iends bee they felt safer to do so, relative to attemptg to discs siar topics wh other straight men.