Some women insist gays make great boyfriends (and their husbands don't mind, really!)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | March 21, 2004 | Patricia Corrigan

[mountaineer]

Put a beautiful woman on a dude ranch in Nevada and instruct her to make a match with one of 14 good-looking, personable men, some straight and some gay pretending to be straight. That's the gimmick on "Playing It Straight," a new reality television show on Fox (Channel 2). Here's the twist: If at the end of 14 weeks, the woman chooses a straight man, the two share the $1 million prize money and ride off into the sunset together.

If she picks a gay man, he takes all the money and runs. So much for cutting short what may have developed into a beautiful friendship.

It seems women all over the St. Louis area, single and married, count among their best buddies at least one gay man. As friends, they have dinner, see movies, vacation together, go dancing, exercise, take cooking classes and shop. They laugh -and cry - about their respective romances. They spend quiet times together, too, simply appreciating true friendship.

Kevin Sherwin of Wildwood, a woman in spite of her name, rattles off a veritable litany of attributes explaining what makes a gay man a good friend.

"They listen intently when you're talking - they make great confidantes - and they are patient when you're shopping," says Sherwin, 59 and retired, who admits she may be generalizing, but just a bit.

"Gay men are fabulous dressers and they make wonderful escorts to parties. They have a great sense of humor. They are trustworthy, someone you can call any time. A gay man is a true friend for life, who will stick with you through thick and thin."

Sherwin knows from what she speaks; Dr. Bill Stehnach Jr., a veterinarian in Olivette who happens to be gay, has been a close friend for nearly 14 years. That's when Sherwin's former veterinarian handed over his clients to Stehnach.

"I bonded with him immediately, and I knew we would be friends forever," said Sherwin, who is divorced. Stehnach, 46, still takes care of Sherwin's pets, but they also have traveled together to New York City, Los Angeles, Paris and London.

....

Caryn Levinson of Webster Groves also lost a dear friend to AIDS. A nurse, Levinson helped care for her friend at the end of his life. "We met in eighth grade, and we made an instant connection. We were inseparable from then on," says Levinson, 51. "My family loved him - he adored my mother - and he was, hands down, the most fun person I've ever known, except maybe my kids. He knew me better than anyone else, and I knew him better than anyone else. As a best friend, it doesn't get any better than a gay man."

Leslie Caplan agrees, and points to her best gay friend, Carlos Mindreau, a 57-year-old architect who lives in St. Louis. "We met 19 years ago at a party," recalls Caplan, 55, director of sales and marketing at Hank's Cheesecakes. "We were standing together on the back porch and we started talking. At the end of an hour, we knew everything about each other and we were best friends."

Over the years, their friendship has deepened.

"A gay man is the best friend a woman can have. They combine the best of the X chromosome and the Y chromosome. They have their careers, but work is not their whole life, and they also have full emotional lives that they can talk about," says Caplan. "That's what I'm like, too, so it works."

[mountaineer]

Kevin Sherwin and her friend, Dr. Bill Stehnach, hug in the men's fitting room of Neiman Marcus, after a shopping expedition for Dr. Bill. He is gay but is friends with Kevin, they travel together, eat out together, and shop together.

[fishtank]

"Kevin Sherwin of Wildwood, a woman in spite of her name..."

Something wrong here.........

[Post Toasties]

Some women insist gays make great boyfriends (and their husbands don't mind, really!)

Until the husbands find out their wive's've become HIV positive, that is.

[UncleDick]

I said guys I'm like you
I like monster trucks, too
Wanna see how many push-ups I can do?
I just wish I was queer so I could get chicks.

[Xenalyte]

Adam and Jimmy thought of it first.

[ken5050]

Obvious, but unstated flaw in the premis of the show...at some time, as the "relationship" deepens, the ruber has to hit the road, so to speak...so can a "gay" guy fake it?, or does he get a headache..and if he performs, as it were, is he gay, or bi?..or, really, who gives a cowpattie?

[ken5050]

Obvious, but unstated flaw in the premis of the show...at some time, as the "relationship" deepens, the ruber has to hit the road, so to speak...so can a "gay" guy fake it?, or does he get a headache..and if he performs, as it were, is he gay, or bi?..or, really, who gives a cowpattie?

[Xenalyte]

[ServesURight]

LOL! That guy looks like Al Bundy!

[R. Scott]

I once has a crewman who discovered that it was a great way to get chicks.
Every time we hit port he would go into his “gay” act.
He would explain to women that he was trying to change, but he just couldn’t find the right women. He found the “right” woman every time.

[Sacajaweau]

Now we're equating homosexuality to personality?? Sorry, not logical. Those are the same characterists afforded Boy Scouts except Boy Scouts have a higher moral standard. Therein lies the difference.

[alisasny]

I caught a bit of the show. SO far she has sent home 3 straight guys and only one gay guy. Her odds to win are very low now.

[Loyalist]

How many of these women with oh-so-wonderful gay friends have teenage sons? What do these women do when their friends start taking an interest in them?

[Tax-chick]

I'd be really dubious about a husband who would be copacetic about this. I can see a man accepting a casual acquaintance, maybe someone at work you're friendly with, or someone you've known for years that you see now and then.

But if a gay man is spending a lot of time with another man's wife, that would raise questions about what's wrong with the husband.

[mountaineer]

"They listen intently when you're talking - they make great confidantes - and they are patient when you're shopping.... Gay men are fabulous dressers and they make wonderful escorts to parties. They have a great sense of humor. They are trustworthy, someone you can call any time. A gay man is a true friend for life, who will stick with you through thick and thin...." says Sherwin, 59 and retired, who admits she may be generalizing, but just a bit.

Generalizing, ya think?

[mountaineer]

What do these women do when their friends start taking an interest in them?

In a part of the article not reprinted above (click on link for full article), one woman gushes over her gay friend, a pediatrician. I assume this man's patients include young boys. Pardon my "intolerance," but that kind of gives me the creeps.

[Cooter]

I wonder if any of the "gay" guys on the show are actually straight and are just angling for an extra half-million.

[sharktrager]

Her list of strong traits of gay men contradicts what I have been told by every gay man I have ever talked to.

[Dan from Michigan]

Reminds me of a South Park Quote from Mr. Garrison. "I'm not gay, I do this to get chicks!"

[pubmom]

What exactly is wrong with these women that they're unable to form best friendships with other women?

Very creepy.