Why Having a Gay BFF Is Important

He's the guy with whom you can discuss your deepest relationship secrets, insecurities about your body and the one you go to for fashion advice. He's not your boyfriend – he may already have one of those himself. He's the Will to your Grace, the Stanford to your Carrie, the Kurt to your Rachel...he's your gay best friend. And a new study conducted at Texas Christian University may prove that if you don't have one, then you need one. If you think about the relationship dynamic, it definitely makes sense. The study, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, boils the relationship down to one obvious benefit: "trustworthy mating advice." In other words, a gay man and straight woman will offer each other good relationship advice without any ulterior motives.


Researchers wrote, "Because straight women’s relationships with straight men and other straight women are often tainted by deceptive motives related to mating interest or competition, respectively, we predicted that straight women would perceive mating-relevant information provided by a gay male to be more trustworthy than similar advice provided by a straight male or straight female." It's easier to trust a gay man with relationship advice than one of your girlfriends – they may be competing for the same man. And it's not as easy to discuss relationship matters with a straight man because of the potential for sexual tension among the two of you. The same is true for your gay BFF – the sexual interest and competition aren't present in his relationship with you, so he can trust you to give him sound relationship advice.