Gay best friends

After I came out, I faced bullying, rejection, and depression. Always listening to her boy problems and being her comedy side queen should have been an honour.

Always the Bridesmaid: is there a future for cinema’s gay best friend?

Having dabbled with the thought of best straight and denying who I was for far too long, I stopped pretending that my best friend was a potential love interest thank you Alex and told my family just before I left sixth form. Although it felt like I'd just climbed a mountain, that was only the beginning. My straight girl friends were supportive, and excited to suddenly have a GBF.

To them, I could be that trusty friend to go bra shopping with, who'd talk about men with them into the early hours, all while braiding their hair. And at first, that was fine with me. Those friends brought me back to life after hiding for so long. I finally felt needed and, for the first time in my life, like I fitted in.

But the negatives that came with the GBF label gradually started to creep in. It felt cruel. According to the Urban Dictionary, " The gay best friend is the best friend of any hot girl you know, and the key to getting with that girl. Behind every hot Girl is a GBF. Forever the odd one out.

I lost count of gay times I was the only boy shopping with a group of girls. An adult man who towered over me, pulled me to one side, and said it wasn't right for a boy to be friends with a group of girls. Unaware of his homophobia, I assumed he was right I remember once being the GBF on a cinema trip, where all of the girls had a guy and I had popcorn.

No amount of jokes they best could hide that as the awkward single gay boy, that I wasn't like them at all. A plus no one. I got used to being the only boy in a crowded room, feeling ignored and fighting tears. Because the friend of being the GBF was an uncomfortable and lonely existence. As much as I adored my friends, I gay they'd never truly understand how I felt.

I worried that person had heard the word gay and now that's all they saw me as. And as someone who struggled with being gay for so long, having it constantly highlighted was hard. All I craved was to be 'normal' and to fit in. But all I did was stand out. A role that was meant to make me feel accepted and loved gradually turned out to be a pretty hard gig.