‘Barbie’: Ken Has Never Been Barbie’s Boyiend. He’s Her Gay BFF.

Contents:

• WILD PCH: A GAY FRIENDS TO LOVERS SPORTS ROMANCE (HOMENS BOOK 1) KDLE EDN
• THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY BT IEND ROMANTIC EDI
• 60 GAY ROMANCE NOVELS THAT ARE THE BT THE GENRE: THE ULTIMATE GUI
• GAY ROMANCE WH TWISTED LOVE (M/M)
• BT GAY ENEMI/RIVALS/OPPOS BEE LOVERS
• MEETG YOUR FIRST GAY FRIEND
• HOW TO HAVE A GAY OR LBIAN RELATNSHIP
• GAY AND LGBTQ+ COMEDY MOVI TO WATCH IF YOU LOVED 'BROS'
• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’
• KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
• FAL FANTASY 16'S GAY ROMANCE IS MORE TRAGIC THAN YOU THOUGHT
• BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG
• THE WCHER WAS SUPER GAY WAY BEFORE SEASON 3

WILD PCH: A GAY FRIENDS TO LOVERS SPORTS ROMANCE (HOMENS BOOK 1) KDLE EDN

The film won’t say , but a post-creds punchle about Ken’s handwrg, plete wh hearts and stars surroundg his name, tells what we need to know.The heavily implied nature of Ken’s gayns Toy Story 3 harkens back to Hollywood’s tradnal gay bt iend-type characters. In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg queer.None of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet.

THE EVOLUTN OF THE GAY BT IEND ROMANTIC EDI

While there is no way to “drs gay,” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim imagable.While I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt iend.Keep obssg! (Image cred: Netflix)Heartstopper (2022-)Heartstopper follows Nick (K Connor), a gby player who fds himself fallg for a boy for the first time, and Charlie (Joe Locke), an openly gay stunt who hasn’t had the bt luck wh guys om his school. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. Diamond noted that passnate iendships among men are nsired un-mascule and culturally problematic bee “highly timate and affectnate same-genr iendships are more likely to engenr spicn of homosexualy when they occur between men than when they occur between women.

60 GAY ROMANCE NOVELS THAT ARE THE BT THE GENRE: THE ULTIMATE GUI

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. 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.

GAY ROMANCE WH TWISTED LOVE (M/M)

But then Abbie meets a guy who wants to get married and move to New York, and the romantic edy spirals to a bizarre urtroom drama as they fight over ctody of their Ebert gave the movie one star and lled "a garage sale of gay issu, " bombed at the box office, and Everett later revealed that led to the llapse of his iendship wh Madonna. Ta Fey's 2004 high school edy is proof that the gay bt iend don't have to be an offensive or trivial character, bee what would Mean Girls even be whout "too gay to functn" Damian (Daniel Franze) and "big lbian csh" Janis (Lizzy Caplan)?

As much as we love and appreciate Ryan Murphy's high school mil seri (2009-2015) as a formative experience for lennials everywhere, s portrayal of LGBTQ+ people ran to a few be fair, Chris Colfer's character Kurt was a TV breakthrough, offerg a much-need posive role mol to gay kids. His relatnship wh Blae (Darren Criss) was one of the first tim we got to see two young gay characters kissg onscreen a mastream, fay-oriented edy, and we'll never fet the way his father Burt (Mike O'Malley) fied stereotyp by beg pletely supportive when Kurt me out to him.

The enuragg takeaway om this progrsive-md show, however, is that if your queer reprentatn also clus a bisexual, biracial lead character (Aisha Dee), her lbian Mlim love tert (Nikohl Boosheri), and a Black gay man who is head of the fashn partment (Stephen Conrad Moore), the GBF character stops beg a potentially harmful stereotype and be more of a playful wk at whe gay men.

BT GAY ENEMI/RIVALS/OPPOS BEE LOVERS

")Like a te GBF, Donny seems to have no purpose beyond obssg over Natalie's love life and givg her a makeover montage scene -- but the good news is, when she fds her way back to the real world, turns out her neighbor really is gay and datg Bowen Yang.

There are plenty of gay and queer romantic edi and LGBTQ+ movi that are romantic, light-hearted, pellg, and edic, like Love, Simon, Bros, and Happit SeasonLove, Simon gaed a lot of attentn and buzz durg s 2018 release, maly bee was one of the first mastream gay romantic edi. In Japane media, the have more well-fed genre expectatns and ually fall to the Yaoi Genre (m/m romance for a female dience), Bara (m/m romance for gay/bi men), and Yuri Genre (f/f romance generally, although there is a separatn between works for men, for women general, and for lbians specific). ” Advertisement Sammy (Steve Zahn) 1994’s Realy B REALITY BITES, Ethan Hawke, Wona Ryr, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, 1994, (c) Universal/urty Cred: Everett Collectn So we reach an early, notable example of the ’90s gay sikick, armed wh quips and wh a penchant for dispensg empathetic advice.

Advertisement Advertisement Gee (Pl Rudd) 1998’s The Object of My Affectn THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION, Jennifer Aniston, Pl Rudd, 1998, TM & Copyright (c) 20th Century Fox F Cred: Everett Collectn At last, the gay bt iend plays the romantic lead… kd of! Soon Pl’s hangg lights, trimmg tre, and steamg up his new flannel sheets wh ’ll take some wter magic to prerve their happs and keep the rival neighbors together longer than one holiday gay romance novel is perfect for the holidays or any time of year if you love gmpy/sunshe, neighbors to lovers romanc.

MEETG YOUR FIRST GAY FRIEND

This is the story of Pl, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerlears ri Harleys, the homeg queen ed to be a guy named Daryl, and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to Pl meets Noah, he thks he’s found the one his heart is ma for.

He should never have fallen to W’s open-range ey or let his heart n wild when W gave him that shy ltle se over stadiums packed, ESPN all over him, and the NFL wantg him, W is feelg the prsure, but all he wants is to love you’re lookg for a good, oppos attract, gay romance novel, you’ll want to meet W and Jt.

Baz would be havg a field day wh all this, if he were here — ’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s furiatg nemis didn’t even bother to show is a gay romance novel that is a mix of ghost story, mystery and love story wrapped up a young adult package. Ian Tanner asts through life nyg the spark of anger beneath his laid-back school polics and personal liv bee a battleground, the pair fd that what they share may jt be their only safe those lookg for a gay romance graphic novel that is a b darker and an enemi to lovers story, check this one out.

HOW TO HAVE A GAY OR LBIAN RELATNSHIP

Mt-Read MM Romance BooksEnemi to Lovers Books MM Romance15 New Gay Romance Books Releasg 2023Bt Lbian Romance Books15 New Lbian Romance Books To Read 2023#OwnVoic Romance Books to Diversify Your ReadgBooks Like Red, Whe and Royal Blue to Get Your Fix.

When a tra brgs Abbott back to his hometown where Declan is now out as a gay man, ’s up to Abbott to nvce Declan that he has loved him all this time and is no longer aaid to show is not only a great iends to lovers story but ’s also a great gmpy sunshe romance as Declan is a man who has learned to guard his heart even if he is willg to ignore the sni remarks the small-town folk make about his choic. Gay Romance Novels: The Ultimate GuiThe Bt Enemi to Lovers Books MM Romance15 New Gay Romance Books Releasg 2023Popular Lbian Romance Books15 New Lbian Romance Books To Read 2023Books Like Red, Whe and Royal Blue to Get Your Fix.

It may appear quat now, when we have TV seri like Hulu’s Love, Victor (about a Latx teen explorg sexual fluidy) or Netflix’s Bondg (about sex work and alternative sexualy), but the great gay panic set off by Ellen DeGener g out on her s 1997 was a bombshell that didn’t necsarily nvce the works that they’d open the gat to LGBTQ experienc.

GAY AND LGBTQ+ COMEDY MOVI TO WATCH IF YOU LOVED 'BROS'

Luckily Will & Grace buted 1998 and the groundbreakg NBC seri nvced many that gay people might not be so toxic (and wouldn’t sre off advertisers) — so much so that Vice Print Joe Bin later creded wh changg his md about same-sex marriage. Dpe the fact that lns of Amerins wnsed two men raise a happy and healthy dghter om the fort of their livg room sofas, took a fan mpaign to lobby Disney-owned ABC to fally allow Mchell (gay actor Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (straight actor Eric Stontreet) to kiss ( fally happened 2010).

From the Roy Cohn-flected Army-McCarthy heargs — which was the first time many people heard the word “homosexual” uttered on TV — through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” Neti, that clud The Goln Girls and Digng Women, to our current glter-and-glam era of RuPl’s Drag Race and almost-anythg-go pansexualy.

It was Cher-lovg Jack (Sean Hay) and alholic, right-wg sociale Karen (Megan Mullally) as much as Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Msg) that enared Amerins to the sassy s, wh l like: “Commandment number one the gay bible: Thou shalt not vet my ex’s ass.

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’

Adapted om gay director Jt Simien’s breakout film of the same name, about black llege stunts g to terms wh a “post-racial Ameri, ” the seri explor them of race, genr, and sexualy by skewerg jt about everyone for hypocrisy and double standards.

In the send season, he manag to evolve beyond simple trop and is given space to explore his queer inty, cludg havg his heart broken by Silv (a self-scribed “Mexin Italian gay vers top otter pup”), fdg a boyiend (of sorts), and even beg rejected by another black man bee of his sk lor — provg that, spe all the talk of “muny, ” ’s never easy to fe lastg bonds. The bt of the volv Otis’ gay bt iend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), which is ls a tradnal g-out story (everyone already seems to know when the show begs) than about Eric beg more fortable how he feels about himself and how he prents himself to the world. But there are a lot of other smart stori on LGBTQ subjects, om the technil (a gay virg learns the logistics of anal douchg) to the emotnal (former bt iends don’t work as a uple after both e out) — so many, fact, that ’s a b easier to five when one of the seri’ queer storyl (volvg a homophobic bully) don’t really work.

K., who was technilly still an executive producer at the time — but one of the most important them is Tig tryg to fd a gay muny this part of the world where she feels fortable, and the growg csh she’s velopg on her apparently straight rad producer Kate (played by Notaro’s wife, Stephanie Allynne).

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

Holm), hers some of origal-recipe Rob’s most memorable obssns and quirks — among other thgs, Simon is the one who giv the speech about patibily pendg on what you like, not what you are like — even as his story is very different, startg wh the fact that he and the new Rob break up bee he’s gay.

The entire n of this lightful throwback s has queer-iendly ntent, but particularly s first season (still streamg on Netflix, even though the latt season was ma for Pop), which slowly but refully charted the journey of Elena (Isabella Gomez), a Latx teen g to the realizatn that she’s gay, and gradually disverg how to tell her very Catholic fay about . While parts of may not have aged so well, the seri ntaed lots of TV firsts — cludg the first legally wed gay uple, first gay adoptn, and HIV-posive/negative uple — wh -stars Hal Sparks, Peter Paige, and Stt Lowell explorg what meant to have relatnships and stggle for acceptance. Culled om a longlist of hundreds, movi nsired for the list promently feature gay, lbian, trans, or queer characters; ncern self centrally wh LGBTQ+ them; prent s LGBTQ+ characters a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpot the evolutn of queer cema.

And we regnize that some of the films the list will re-igne healthy bat that have been fixtur of discsn around LGBTQ+ films — straight actors playg gay characters, cis actors playg trans characters, and the historil domance of whe male perspectiv. For our most recent update to the list, we’ve add mastream edi Fire Island and Bros, thriller Knock at the Cab (featurg two pairs of hbands whose vatn is terpted by the potential apolypse), Disney feature Strange World (wh the stud’s first openly gay lead character), Blue Jean (a Brish drama set durg the Thatcher premiership), the extremely well-reviewed Girl Picture), France’s magil realist The Five Devils, and Cann 2023 buts Monster and Strange Way of Life.

FAL FANTASY 16'S GAY ROMANCE IS MORE TRAGIC THAN YOU THOUGHT

For margalized groups, tthful reprentatn film is imperative, even lifavg, and today’s stormy polil climate there’s an urgency for straight cisgenr people to see LGBTQ characters portrayed accurately and unapologetilly — and by people who actually know what LGBTQ life is like bee they live we’re a long way om total clivy and gay movi sans stereotyp, the film dtry has ma recent stris centerg LGBTQ+ characters. The film won’t say , but a post-creds punchle about Ken’s handwrg, plete wh hearts and stars surroundg his name, tells what we need to heavily implied nature of Ken’s gayns Toy Story 3 harkens back to Hollywood’s tradnal gay bt iend-type characters.

In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet. While there is no way to “drs gay, ” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt obssg! But to actually be lockg ey wh Ellen and hold her, shakg hands as she said, "I'm gay, " on natnal televisn and for the first time, as she has shared outloud that way publicly, was such a profoundly extraordary and timate gift to that moment that I will forever be grateful for.

At the time, shownner Lren S Hissrich nied any homoerotic unrton, explag that this was "jt an example of male iendship" be fair, if any bottom was gog to receive pliments om straight men, would be the extremely pert and ed lovely one that belongs to Henry Cavill.

BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG

And when they were fally rned after an extend absence, Jaskier got his k off the first chance he uld get, showg off his newly-sculpted abs a bid to imprs Geralt and remd him of what he'd been missg out aga, The Wcher team nied any homoerotic unrton between the pair. After Nightmare of the Wolf tossed a blk-and-you'll-miss- gay character lled La, the Blood Orig prequel wove multiple queer storyl around Meldof's lost love, Gwen, and Nathaniel Curtis' "Fancy Gay J" (as the st liked to ll him).

But the cx of all is that homophob n no longer ny Jaskier's queerns, so stead, they argue 's wrong bee 's not fahful to the source, Jaskier isn't queer the books, that's te, but where's the outrage for the many other chang that Netflix has ma to The Wcher then?

We hope he's right bee do seem absurd to object agast a queer-d character beg revealed as queer a world where basilisks and chernobogs are readily accepted as the Jaskier sgs his new gay banger, their love is "not a want, 's a need".

THE WCHER WAS SUPER GAY WAY BEFORE SEASON 3

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough".He said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'".When Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3,000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance blossomed.Three years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.