
I love my straight girlfriends. I couldn't live without them. But apparently some gay men have a few complaints about this tried and true bond between gay guy - straight woman.
This little bitchfest comes to you from Craigslist LA. Do you identify with any of it, or did this guy's mom drop him on his head when he was little?
A Memo to Straight Women Seeking A Gay Male Friend
Hi there. I am a gay man living in Los Angeles. Let me just say that I have many women friends. And I applaud the open-minded, progressive attitudes most straight women seem to have nowadays.
However, I have noticed that we've crossed over into a place where some women are just a little too comfortable with homosexuality. "Too much tolerance" you say? I'll explain.
Honestly, I am flattered when a woman says something along the lines of "you're cute. Too bad you're not straight." That's nice to hear. I'm not going into some PC tirade over a compliment. You know what though? I only need to hear it once. My friend's friend says it every time I see her. She does the rubbing my upper back back, hands in my hair shit. And you know what I want to say? "LISTEN. My being gay isn't the only reason it would never happen." Like, back the f**k up. And she's also volunteered to be my beard at events. "Great, we'll time travel to the 1950s when people in LA last did that." [More after the jump...]
I think "Will and Grace" has instructed an entire generation of women that gay men are dying - DYING! - to be your friend and indulge your every co-dependent and neurotic whim. We'll be there in a clinch with a "you go girl!" or "you look fierce!" Because we all love to say that stuff and many other quippy zingers.
Last Monday night, a woman at a bar came up to me and asked me if I was single. Not to disparage her, but let's just say I was happy to shut her down right away with an abrupt "I'm gay." And you know what? THAT DID NOT DETER HER.
She LIT up and said, "We can go shopping together and you can watch me play with myself with my Rabbit."
Ugggggghhhh... Do you ever not even know where to begin?
I wanted to say, "Yes, please, I am in the habit of befriending bar skanks in the first ten seconds of talking to them. And despite my lack of sexual attraction to women, I would simply LOVE to watch you get yourself off. JACKPOT!"
As far as the shopping thing goes: I love saying "I'm not really into shopping" and I just stand back and wait for their heads to explode. Their precious "Will and Grace" never prepared them for that possibility!
Call me uptight but I'm also against using the word "fag" aimed at me in some joking, campy way to demonstrate how comfortable you are with my being gay. This has happened to me. It's like a folksy gay-bashing without the exclamation point of the beatings. Let's from now on consult what I call "The [N-word] Test" to see if a carefree epithet really is appropriate. The way it works is that when you want to call me "fag" you imagine instead that I'm black and that you're going to call me " [N-word] " in some whimsical, ironic way. If you would in fact drop the N bomb, then by all means, proceed!
Also, please refrain from referring to your gay friend as "my Will" or yourself as "Grace." That's totally queer. It was an okay show that's been off the air for over a year. Move on.
And lastly, just because you know another gay man who is single DOES NOT MEAN WE WOULD MAKE A PERFECT MATCH. I appreciate the desire to see me paired up but most women (or straight men who attempt this) think pairing up gays is as difficult as a game of Concentration. "Hey... there's one... there's another... done!" "This guy you want to pair me up with... what does he like to do in his free time? Does he vote? Does he read? Like to go out? Stay in? You don't know? So you just know his name and sexual orientation." PASS. And while I've got nothing against the uber-feminine gay men, and respect that they have a much tougher path than gay men who seem straight, please do not fix me up with them. Because I am not attracted to them, which you would know if you'd asked any of the pertinent questions before acting as a one-woman Match.com.
In closing, I am a friendly guy and like knowing people from all walks of life. But straight girls, just dial down the desperation level a couple of notches and find a more constructive way to deal with the void that the cancellation of "Sex and the City" has left in your life. (Full disclosure: I'm a total Miranda!) If we're meant to be friends, you'll let me breathe and know me for me, not as the hot urban accessory of the gay male friend. Thank you. I feel so much better.
Well?
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Comments:
(11)Add a comment
Monday 21 July
By lily
i dont deal with a lot of gay guys. but i can see where that could get annoying. i want a gay best friend. and i promise if i become friends with a gay guy, i wont do that
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Tuesday 22 July
By Ria
I have many gay guy friends and am not like that...i can definatly see how it could get on ones nerves. thank you for opening up my eyes to what NOT to be like,. :-)
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Monday 01 December
By Julie B.
Hey Kenneth,
I think this was a great read. I'm a straight female living in New York City and I'm friends with everyone who is cool, kind and nice to me. Most who understand that I lived, worked and went to school in San Francisco automatically think I MAY be gay or bi... and that's just the beginning. I think it comes down to acceptance and manners. It's possible to have friend of either sex and of any sexual orientation but false assumptions from closed-minded people are infuriating.
Me, the perpetual jokester will laugh about anything and everything and when anything remotely sexual comes up, every dull-minded dude automatically egnites those lesbian/bi fantasties, cropping up like weeds on a hotplate. As for your points, I agree with them all. Amazing how some people label... Gee, at 37 I'm a cougar if I date anyone under 30 or I must be bi/gay if I display any genuine friendly respect towards another woman... Forget about me joking about sex... then I'm a *insert bullshit misnomer here*...
The thing about manners and modesty is that when you are genuinely trying to be romantic with someone, despite your sexual orientation, where is the gallantry? I shake my head how people can act like complete monkeys without any respect to a person's true self.
What has the world come to?
Women hit on me all the time. I find it flattering but I'm a straight as an arrow is sharp. It never is a problem until men from the peanut gallery sidelines of the 50-yard mark start to salivate with their sexual assumptions. Bah!
Maybe in theory I'll put the idealogy into a book sooner or later... "She was a woman of magnetic grace... the kind of women both men and women responded to..." LOL!
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Monday 01 December
By Julie B.
Oh crap, "ignites". I actually can spell albeit my typing is fast. D'oh!
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Wednesday 08 April
By colleen
I feel bad that everyone ignored the fact that you DIDN'T write this lol.
I'm a straight girl with only one gay guy friend. I would never ever treat him like a purse, however lots of women DO that. It infuriates me!!
It's good you don't feel your girlfriends do that to you and would willingly defend them against an idiot who just assumed they did treat you that way though. :-)
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Monday 06 August
By Kelly
I get what you're saying. Gay men as the accesory, so to speak. I feel bad for women who feel that they need a gay guy like it's some kind of fashion trend.
That being said, when you do have that true blue relationship with a gay guy -- it can't be beat, if it's natural of course! I have a relationship like this, but we've been best friends since we were 9 and 11 ... long before we both knew what gay even meant.
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Tuesday 07 August
By Andrew
I think one word would have fit well in his letter to women. "Infacuation"
It seems like our writer of the letter was having some situations. That letter was well written though, seemed like a normal rant & vent to me. Got it off his chest and out in the public. So I'd give him props!
The only thing I could relate to is hearing my friends "half-heartedly" using the word fag. I guess I just don't like the word fag. I don't even use it myself kidding or not kidding I just don't say it. Personal Pref, though.
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Tuesday 07 August
By Alex Blaze
Mostly agree with this dude, actually. I've known women like this before, and it's completely dehumanizing. It's like, you're not a person, just some poodle I take out to play with. And when you violate whatever stereotype of gay men they were thinking of when they met you, AW MAN, it all comes out.
When I first came out I found this sort of woman refreshing. It was like, you know, acceptance. But then I became educated and realized it wasn't, it was just someone living out her heterosexual supremacist fantasy, others be damned.
I do have friends who are women, but I don't ever refer to them as "fag hags" or anything like that anymore just because I really don't like the concept of a woman who thinks that just because I engage in non-normative sexual practices that I'm her doll or something. I can understand if she feels comfortable around gay men, that's cool. Or if she identifies with us. Or if she's just a normal person who's friends with men who are gay. But the whole "Let's go shopping" three seconds after you meet is beyond irritating. Same with any of the other things they do to show you who's really in charge.
There, Kenneth, you got me to let it all out. :)
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Wednesday 08 August
By Kevin
I think he veered off on a couple points but his final point I completely agree with. Gay people are not around to CATER to the needs of straight people. If you truly respect someone you would not expect them to cater to you.
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Friday 10 August
By Steve-
Amen.
I can't stand girls as it is.
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Tuesday 21 August
By Emily
Hang on I have a question. ARE YOU GAY?
You seem to know so much about it. So...?
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