If I had a dollar for every time I heard the expression “my gay best friend,” I would have… well, let’s just say a lot of money. Is this bad? Not really. In fact, most of the time it is positively attributed to someone and sandwiched in between whole-hearted comments from one friend to another. However, it is the word “gay” that prefaces “best friend” that strikes me. Essentially, it is not just a best friend, but a gay best friend. And homosexuality is just one identity, but it is the one most often used to qualify someone in this particular instance. To corroborate my point, let’s take another identity. Would you ever say, “this is my black best friend,” or “this is my differently abled best friend.” No, I don’t think we would – only gay sounds acceptable. But, using the term “gay best friend” wasn’t always so ubiquitous in usage. Roughly half a century ago, gay men and women were considered “deviant.” Deviant, meaning differing from the accepted norm. Now, it seems that the norm or at least the trend is to have a gay best friend. And this is the reason behind my eagerness to write a blog about the gay best friend.
*Picture taken from: http://memegenerator.net/instance/25343627
The Gay Best Friend 