It’s no secret that most of us would love to have at least one gay best friend to call our own, and who can blame us? 

All the cool girls have them, our husbands love them, and don’t gay guys always want to hang out with straight women, since, you know, they all really wish they were us?

Of course we’re kidding.
As one man puts it in a widely circulated Craigslist memo:

“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.
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.”

Okay, so gay friends are actually real people who are gay, not teacup Yorkies.  Who knew?  Still, we can’t help but notice that most gay men we know have at least one close straight female friend, so it’s not a total cliche, right?
But, Ladies, let’s be honest:  The average woman has a better chance of scoring an Hermes Birkin bag than a top-of-the-line BGF like Will Truman or Tim Gunn.

This should be obvious to anyone who understands the basic laws of supply and demand.   As a scant 10% of the overall population—or perhaps even much less if you believe one Dr. Kirk Cameron, (who should not be confused with this Kirk Cameron)—the total supply of gay males is already abysmally low, and when you consider that only a fraction of that number is going to be, you know, the fun kind (as opposed to the boring Tom Cruise/ T.R. Knight / Brokeback Mountain kind), well, let’s just say things don’t look good for acquiring your own gay gal pal. 



(Unless, like Wilhelmina, you can afford to pay one).

Which is why we prefer virtual gays.
The fact is, there is a huge number of of gay men in cyberspace who have made being gay a central part of their identity, if not their profession.  Podcasts and vlogs of gay men are everywhere, and we’ve discovered that, with the click of a mouse, we can have as many gay friends as we want, anytime we want.
To be honest, though, most of them aren’t very good, because, more often than not, there’s no substance behind the schtick.  (A lot of these cute boys haven’t yet realized that a gay voice alone--and we mean that both in the literal and the narrative sense--isn’t enough to carry a videocast or a podcast.  You have to actually say something interesting or funny, which is apparently a lot harder than people think. )

Our very favorite is The Daily Purge , which is a blog and a weekly podcast by J. Michael Haas and Rob Lyndley. 

Because Haas and Lyndley are actually seasoned and talented writer-performers, their podcast, while it might sound like a random conversation between the two, is actually quite well-constructed and always entertaining.  We’re not saying that it doesn’t sound completely spontaneous--because it does.  (Especially when Rob’s cat, Keith, whom he describes as being “a total a**hole”, starts acting up and knocking things off the desk). 
In fact, you won’t realize the skill it requires to keep the thing moving along until you hear other people try to do it.  But, in our opinion, nobody else comes close. 
(One note though:  Although they’re basically just a couple of nice boys from Iowa, --who are not, btw , a Couple-- the subject matter can occasionally be very dirty, so if references to gay sex --or poop jokes, for that matter--make you squeamish, these probably aren’t the gays for you… )

We also like to get regular doses of Isaac Mizhrahi, who, even when he doesn’t have much to say, is just so fascinating to watch that we can’t help but be addicted.  If you miss his TV show as much as we do, take heart:  it lives on here.

And for a younger perspective, we’re keeping our eye on William Sledd and his Ask A Gay Man series on Youtube.  While some of his segments definitely drag (you can only make cute faces for so long, William--refer to “gayness not enough to carry videocast” discussion above), he’s got an undeniable appeal.  How else do you explain a self-confessed former Nobody from Paducah, Kentucky being invited to Fashion Week? 

Fortunately, he’s a fast learner who’s constantly upping his game, so we expect the videocasts will tighten up over time as his broadcasting and editing techniques continue to improve.  Which would be fabulous, because, as Cathy Griffin likes to say, a girl needs her gays!

Enjoy, Bi***es!