History Main / GayBestFriend

%% * {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' with Sparky, Stan's gay dog. But played straight with Mr Slave, a walking parody of virtually all the QueerAsTropes.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Julio carries business cards that say "Sassy Gay Friend". With the opposite side reading "Scheming Gay Enemy".

** Raj is also this to Wayne, even after he comes out as gay to him.

* Averted by Seiji Kisaragi, Mikako's ''gay'' friend in ''Manga/GokinjoMonogatari''. He's an extremely {{bishonen}} aspiring hairdresser and former fashion student with a rather flamboyant appearance, but he's portrayed as mature, talented, and determined and is of great importance as an older brother/mentor figure for Mikako. What's best is [[spoiler:he's not even ''gay'', he's bisexual.]]

* Subverted in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' -- the moment Carla and Elliot assume that the [[AnythingThatMoves Todd]] is gay, they want to make him their 'gay best friend'... until he starts groping them.

* Marco on ''[[Series/{{Degrassi}} Degrassi: The Next Generation]]''. His male friends always have a certain [[HoYay subtext]] to them, that his female friends don't because he's gay. But in many episodes, he's seen hanging with Paige, Ellie, and Alex. A true DistaffCounterpart is Alex, who is introduced as hanging out in a mostly-male circle.

* Trevor in ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria|2}}: A Puzzle of Flesh'' starts out as this, but as his character develops it starts to be subverted, as he turns into more of a StraightGay [[TheBarnum Humphrey]] deliberately playing up the CampGay. It's further subverted when main character Curtis confesses his attraction for Trevor. At one point in [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony's]] LetsPlay he calls Trevor the one interesting character he liked [[spoiler: and didn't want to see brutally murdered.]] The same thing applied in the Website/SomethingAwful LP of the game, with the Goons managing to track down and get an interview with Trevor's actor.

The Gay BestFriend exists mostly to add variety, funny mannerisms and cheap laughs to an otherwise all-straight story and sometimes shows of political correctness. The gay best friend is depicted as mostly interested in shopping, fashion and makeovers.

The GBF may talk about sex a lot, but is [[HaveIMentionedIAmGay seldom depicted as having any]], because too many viewers [[ButNotTooGay would find that disturbing]]. Either he has no love life to speak of (which never seems to bother him), or it's [[ButNotTooGay forever offscreen]], only discussed with the heroine over brunch at some pretentious cafe.

* Averted by Seiji Kisaragi, Mikako's ''gay'' friend in ''Manga/GokinjoMonogatari''. He's an extremely {{bishonen}} aspiring hairdresser and former fashion student with a rather flamboyant appearance, but he's portrayed as mature, talented and determined and is of great importance as an older brother/mentor figure for Mikako. What's best is [[spoiler:he's not even ''gay'', he's bisexual.]]

* ''Manga/GhostTalkersDaydream'': Misaki's closest friend and co-worker, Shizue, is [[StraightGay a lesbian.]] The subject only comes up once, in chapter 5, when Misaki asks her about why she chose to go public with it. But she changes her mind and drops the subject before Shizue can answer her.

%% * In ''ComicBook/JonSableFreelance'', Jon's girlfriend Myke shares her apartment with gay choreographer named Grey who is her best friend. To his surprise, Jon also becomes friends with him.

* Dumbbell, of Blog/AskHoopsAndDumbbell, meets a coworker who tries to turn him into one, gleefully suggesting they go shopping, clubbing, and check out boys together. When he brushes her off (as he hates shopping, doesn't drink and is already in a relationship), she just thinks he's being sassy. He's not amused by this.

* The German comedy ''Echte Kerle'' (in English, ''Regular Guys'') centers around the straight main character, who is a Berlin police detective, and his gay housemate, who is a mechanic. In among all the CringeComedy and MistakenForGay, there are some legitimately touching moments, including a scene where the housemate chews him out for making stupid assumptions based on his sexuality.

* ''Film/TheWomanInRed'': Buddy is gay. He's also best friends with Teddy, Joey and Mikey. Unlike many examples though, he acts no different from them, and doesn't dispense "sage advice" etc.
* An inverted example in ''Film/TheLivingEnd''. The gay protagonist, Jon, has a Darcy, his straight female best friend who seems to exist mainly to help him out with his relationship problems. She's a quirky artist, but her part of the plot deals mainly with how her worries about Jon take over her own life.

* ''Film/LifePartners'': Sasha, a lesbian, has been the best friend of Paige (who's straight) for years. However their friendship is tested as Paige gets into a serious relationship with Tim. Unlike many examples, Sasha's a full character, isn't stereotypical, has a sex/love life and their friendship is the center of the story.
* ''Film/HappiestSeason'': Played with. CampGay John's primary purpose in the plot is to be a rock solid friend to protagonist Abby and he's very funny, but he's also a fully realized character and Abby herself is a lesbian.

* ''Literature/BehindBlueEyes'' by Anna Mocikat: Adriel is a fellow Guardian Angel and Nephilim's closest friend in the world. He is also one of the few male characters in the setting with no interest in her due to their IncompatibleOrientation. Despite being a FreeLoveFuture, he is also one of the few characters who does not have any shown love interests or even one night stands.

* On ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Kurt is Rachel's and Blaine is Tina's. An aversion however because they're both very well established main characters outside of their friendships. Plus, they're not friends ''because'' they're gay. However, Rachel has an ugly habit of calling Kurt her "best gay". When she tries that on Elliot, he immediately tells her he hates it, because it makes him feel like a pet.

%% * Sasan on Tori Spelling's semi-autobiographical sitcom ''Series/SoNotorious''. The real person that the character is based off of is one of her closest friends since childhood and serves as her business and assets manager.
* Maldwyn Novello Pughe in the 1978 BBC Wales comedy ''Series/GrandSlam''. He's a camp gay among a group of largely salt-of-the earth heterosexual rugby fans who travel to Paris to see Wales play France. Although this is played for laughs to an extent, he's definitely "one of the gang" and accepted for who he is without being patronised. He's subjected to some good-natured teasing but no more than anyone else, proves he can give as good as he gets, and the viewer is left in no doubt that anyone who messed with him would have the rest of the guys to deal with too.
* Rather bitterly deconstructed on ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', with a self-declared FagHag character who appears in a few sketches. She blithely describes her gay friends in this manner, while they -- usually played by the openly-gay Creator/MarkGatiss -- roll their eyes and try to sneak away while she's not looking. The stage show takes this a step further, with a purely dramatic scene of Gatiss's character breaking up with his boyfriend over an infidelity, before the FagHag shows up to talk about how [[AllGaysArePromiscuous gay men can all sleep with each other with no consequences]]. Gatiss snaps, delivering a pretty excellent [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]].

* Played with in ''Series/HappyEndings''. Penny and Max are very close friends, but [[StraightGay due to Max's lack]] of stereotypical "gay" traits, their relationship isn't of the usual type associated with this trope. Once episode has Penny deciding she wants a [[CampGay campy]] friend, but the guy she meets turns out to be a [[JerkAss total jerk]], so she dumps him. In the end, Max decides that Penny is closer to being ''his'' gay friend, despite Penny being a straight woman.

%% * The premise of ''Series/OneBigHappy'' is a straight guy his lesbian best friend deciding to have a baby together.

* Played with on ''Series/SchittsCreek'' with main characters David and Stevie. Initially, Stevie assumes David is gay but after they sleep together he comes out as pansexual. Their attempt at a FriendsWithBenefits situation fails, and when Stevie develops feelings for David she is heartbroken when she realizes he can't or won't return them. They eventually settle into being the best of friends and with their friendship (or as show creator Creator/DanLevy calls it a "friendlationship") becoming a central part of the show's narrative. They even date the same guy, Jake, but reject the notion of ThreewaySex or {{Polyamory}}. Eventually, Stevie becomes TheMatchmaker for David and Patrick, and David serves as her {{Wingman}} as she purses Emir. Subverts the trope in that David is a main character, has an active sex life and Stevie is, for a time, the third wheel to David and Patrick.

* ''Series/{{Hanna}}'': Dan is this to Sophie. She feels safe confiding in him about her crush on Anton, since he's not interested in girls. He has no sex or romantic life onscreen, existing only to give her advice.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', "Straight Male Friend": Parodied and inverted. A gay man laments that his female friends are draining, so he does his own unwinding with a Straight Male Friend, a heterosexual gamer jock who has no expectations about emotional effort, attachment or spending money.

* In his ''Raw'' special Eddie Murphy cautioned straight men against allowing their women to have a GBF, because they might give their GBF a peck and come home with "AIDS on they lips". This is of course not a valid disease vector. Whether it's humorous is left as an exercise for the reader.

* While it's never directly stated in-game, Tony in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' is heavily implied by Creator/ShigesatoItoi (and eventually confirmed by English localization director Marcus Linbolm) to be gay. He's close friends with his roommate Jeff, one of the game's party members, and is implied to have a crush on him. While Tony's role in the game isn't particularly major compared to Jeff, he is still a crucial character, aiding Jeff in first reaching Ness & Paula and being the one who first jots down the name of you, the player, for a school project. Notably, Tony's characerization [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] much of the gay stereotypes usually present in this trope, being neither sassy nor a generic walking advice column, which is quite impressive for a character from a Japanese game released in 1994.

* Fitz from ''The Webcomic/CodeCrimson'', though subverted in that he's a main character, hardly camp, and we meet [[http://www.comics.thecodecrimson.com/?webcomic_post=issue-1-page-11/ Fitz's ex boyfriend]] early on. It's Serena who gives him [[http://thecodecrimson.com/post/24996196275/issue-1-page-6-oh-fitz-we-missed-you-so-much/ romantic advice]], not the other way around. She's the one who [[http://thecodecrimson.com/post/18787733979/issue0-page2-3/ never seems to date]]. The comic is basically a girl and her gay best friend traveling through time and space, although the girl happens to be SharingABody with a violent cyborg assassin from the future.

* Rudy from ''Webcomic/Rain2010'' is a somewhat {{Downplayed}} example. He ''appears'' to the fit this stereotype to a T and definitely has his sassy moments. But he's more often than not defined by his impulsive nature and CannotKeepASecret tendancies more than his sass.

** When she learns that Ethan is gay, Robin pretends to be a lesbian in order to make him jealous, and thus produces a 'partner' to whom she proudly refers as "My lesbian!" to the point of not even learning her real name. While the woman is not an exaggerated stereotype used for comic effect but a perfectly ordinary, rather quiet and shy person, her entire purpose in the comic is based around her sexuality - and, it [[strike: is hinted]] has now been outright stated, has a crush on Robin, partially explaining why she puts up with Robin's insensitivity. Robin later apologises, explaining that she's merely insecure and something of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, and the two become friends, and later lovers. (Just for completeness, the lesbian's name is eventually revealed to be [[PunnyName Leslie Bean]].)

** Things get slightly more subversive with his relationship with Amber's uptight sister Ruby. He's determined to break through her shell, and gives her some good advice when they first start talking, especially with regard to dressing for her attempts to get a serious job. She acknowledges his help, and [[https://pixietrixcomix.com/sticky-dilly-buns/rock-these-designer-jeans sounds as grateful as she ever manages for it.]] However, [[https://pixietrixcomix.com/sticky-dilly-buns/a-man-will-not-pay-my-bills the next day,]] he decides to give her a [[TheMakeover makeover]] to help her find a boyfriend, despite her attempts to tell him that she doesn't want one, and [[https://pixietrixcomix.com/sticky-dilly-buns/best-ease-back-there throws]] a [[DramaQueen blubbering tantrum]] at the idea that they aren't going to work through every component of the trope.

* In ''Webcomic/WelcomeToRoom305'' the only reason Kyung Ah shows an interest in Yoon Sung and Jung Hyun is because of the rumours that they're a gay couple (which isn't true and Jung Hyun is MistakenForGay anyway), of course neither of the two know that she's like that. Rose points out that this is an extremely narrow viewpoint.

* ''Literature/{{Plonqmas}}'': Plonq's best friend, an otter morph named Giblet, is gay. He’s very much out of the closet and at times teasingly flirts with Plonq, but is not seen in a relationship of any kind.

* Clarence, [=GameaVision=]'s audio designer, from ''WesternAnimation/CodeMonkeys''. He always wears a sparkling jumpsuits, sings in place of speaking, and makes many and blatant references to gay sex. Also, has "gay magic" such as the ability to fly.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/{{Sunkissed}}''. Main character Stephen is a StraightGay man and his roommate is a [[CampStraight flamboyant, over-the-top]] yet undeniably straight dude who exists mainly as comic relief.

* Rudy from ''Webcomic/Rain2010'' is a somewhat {{Downplayed}} example. He ''appears'' to the fit this stereotype to a T and definitely has his sassy moments. But he's more often than not defined by his impulsive nature and CannotKeepASecret tendancies more than his sass.

* ''Film/AllAboutE'': Matt, E's best friend, a CampGay man who's occupied with advising E, providing some comic relief. He complains repeatedly of being single and is never seen once with a man (as apparently gay men in Sydney are more into [[ManlyGay tan gym rats]]). However, unlike in most examples she's a lesbian.

* While it's never directly stated in-game, Tony in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' is heavily implied by Creator/ShigesatoItoi (and eventually confirmed by English localization director Marcus Linbolm) to be gay. He's close friends with his roommate Jeff, one of the game's party members, and is implied to have a crush on him. While Tony's role in the game isn't particularly major compared to Jeff, he is still a crucial character, aiding Jeff in first reaching Ness & Paula and being the one who first jots down the name of you, the player, for a school project. Notably, Tony's characerization [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] much of the gay stereotypes usually present in this trope, being neither sassy nor a generic walking advice column, which is quite impressive for a character from a Japanese game released in 1994.

->'''Vince's father''': Must be a wonderful life, Hazel, all those boys. Never short of a joke, tremendous wit, all of them... always smiling, always laughing...\\
'''Hazel''': Yes, and they make such good pets.
-->-- ''Series/QueerAsFolk''

* Jean-Paul Beaubier comes off as this at first in ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', being a CampGay ChivalrousPervert, [[DeadpanSnarker somewhat sassy]] and throwing out GratuitousFrench. As time goes by however, it's revealed that he's playing up to the image to appear harmless and is, in fact, [[SherlockScan a lot smarter]] and [[CombatPragmatist a lot]] [[EyeScream more]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass dangerous]] than [[ObfuscatingStupidity he pretends]] -- when he gets angry at one point, Harry notes that he goes cold in a fashion that reminds him of his uncle Loki. Also, it helps that his dynamic with Carol is more VitriolicBestBuds than anything else and there are few people less interested in shopping and makeovers than she is -- though they do talk about boys a little bit.

* Rudy from ''Webcomic/Rain2010'' is a somewhat {{Downplayed}} example. He ''appears'' to the fit this stereotype to a T and definitely has his sassy moments. But he's more often than not defined more by his impulsive nature and CannotKeepASecret tendancies than his sass.

* Rudy from ''Webcomic/Rain2010'' is a {{Downplayed}} example. He ''appears'' to the fit this stereotype to a T and definitely has his sassy moments. But he's more often than not defined more by his impulsive nature and CannotKeepASecret tendancies than his sass.