“Teen Vogue” [1] recently published an online article about the latest trend in high school fashion: the gay best friend (GBF).  According to the article, the once-bullied gay high school boy is currently in high demand among the popular girls.

“A few years ago, all the popular, pretty girls were walking hand in hand with a preppy jock,” one high school student says. “Now you’ll see them in hallways with a Mulberry bag on one arm and a Johnny Weir look-alike on the other.”

Influenced by the media’s quick uptake of the gay guy/straight girl coupling—for instance, Will and Grace, Carrie Bradshaw and Stanford or even Sharpay and Ryan from “High School Musical”—it seems teenage girls are “collecting” fashion-forward gay boys, the magazine says.  Unfortunately, the magazine portrays the trend as something that positions the boys as an accessory, like a pair of Uggs—in one season and out the next—instead of as people with the respect and individuality they deserve.

However, Teen Vogue acknowledges that the pairing  may be less competitive and more honest then friendships between two girls.

And some of the teens interviewed who were in GBF relationship before the hype started are themselves concerned with the relationships being treated as a trivial fad. One teen said, “It’s wonderful that society and the media have become so accepting, but that culture should never be exploited or treated like a passing trend. People should not be defined by characteristics like their sexuality.”

Amen.

[1] http://www.teenvogue.com/connect/blogs/soundoff/2010/07/gbf-gay-best-friend.html
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