Pet Homosexual: Difference between revisions

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The Pet Homosexual exists mostly to add variety, funny mannerisms and cheap laughs to an otherwise all-straight story. He may get some serious friendship plot points due to closeness to the [[Fag Hag]]. It's entirely possible for him to have many of the same issues: a single gay guy with exclusively female friends that he might use as an emotional stand-in for a romantic relationship, either out of isolation (common in high school and older works) or simply being unlucky in love.

The Pet Homosexual may talk about sex a lot, but is [[Have I Mentioned I Am Gay|seldom depicted as having any]], because too many viewers would find that [[Values Dissonance|disturbing]]. Either he has no love life to speak of (which never seems to bother him), or it's [[But Not Too Gay|forever offscreen]], only discussed with the heroine over brunch at some pretentious cafe.

The Pet Homosexual may talk about sex a lot, but is [[Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?|seldom depicted as having any]], because too many viewers would find that [[Values Dissonance|disturbing]]. Either he has no love life to speak of (which never seems to bother him), or it's [[But Not Too Gay|forever offscreen]], only discussed with the heroine over brunch at some pretentious cafe.

As modern society grows increasingly comfortable with homosexuality, fiction is slowly seeing more well-rounded gay supporting characters <ref>Don't hold your breath for gay ''main'' characters in mainstream media; they're still having trouble coming up with main heroes who aren't ''white''</ref> with onscreen love lives, whose sexuality is incidental to the character. It would be nice to say this trope has gone into [[Discredited Trope|Discredited territory]], but we've still got a ways to go.

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

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== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Mr Humphries from ''[[Are You Being Served (TV)|Are You Being Served]]'' However, the show milks all the humor it can from "[[Ambiguously Gay|Is he or isn't he]]" - he definitely ''[[Camp Gay|acts]]'' like it, but mentions dating women more than once. The actor has said that he was a bit of a [[~~Mommas~~ Boy|mummy's boy]].

* Mr Humphries from ''[[Are You Being Served (TV)|Are You Being Served]]'' However, the show milks all the humor it can from "[[Ambiguously Gay|Is he or isn't he]]" - he definitely ''[[Camp Gay|acts]]'' like it, but mentions dating women more than once. The actor has said that he was a bit of a [[Momma's Boy|mummy's boy]].

* Gil Chesterton from ''[[Frasier]]'' is a similar character, taken further than Mr. Humphries is. The quirk is later cut entirely at one point when the previously-oblivious Gil finds out about his reputation and angrily declares himself to be a happily married man.

** But on one of the occasions Fraiser is [[Mistaken for Gay]], Gil is there to welcome him out of the closet. His [[The Ghost|unseen]] wife is often referred to in a manner that strongly suggests she's a [[The Beard|beard]].

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* Original Cindy in ''[[Dark Angel]]''--talks about sex, never has any. Except in the episode where we meet her first girlfriend.

* Subverted in ''[[Scrubs]]'' - the moment Carla and Elliot assume that the [[Anything That Moves|Todd]] is gay, they want to make him their [[Pet Homosexual|'gay best friend']]... until he starts groping them.

* Ashley's friend Griffin on ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]''. [[Have I Mentioned I Am Gay|He takes great care to mention that he's gay in every single scene he's in]] (often multiple times!), but doesn't really have...well, any other characteristics. We know nothing else about him. And he's only shown with a love interest once in passing - in contrast to the other characters, whose [[Love Dodecahedron|tangled]] [[Dating Do Si Do|romantic]] [[No Going Steady|lives]] are the focus of every episode.

* Ashley's friend Griffin on ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]''. [[Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?|He takes great care to mention that he's gay in every single scene he's in]] (often multiple times!), but doesn't really have...well, any other characteristics. We know nothing else about him. And he's only shown with a love interest once in passing - in contrast to the other characters, whose [[Love Dodecahedron|tangled]] [[Dating Do-Si-Do|romantic]] [[No Going Steady|lives]] are the focus of every episode.

* Marco on ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]''. To be fair, he has male friends, and is introduced to them, but his male friends always have a certain [[Ho Yay|subtext]] to them, that his female friends don't because he's gay. But in many episodes, he's seen hanging with Paige, Ellie, and Alex. A true [[Distaff Counterpart]] is Alex, who is introduced as hanging out in a mostly-male circle.

* [[Unhappily Ever After]] had Barry, one of Tiffany's best friends.

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== [[Stand Up Comedy]] ==

* Patton Oswalt has a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvCwY7EwMx4 bit] on his ''Finest Hour'' CD where he recalls being asked to read for [[~~Cliche~~ Storm|a factory-produced rom com]] that had one of these. He decided to read the part as if he was the dumbest [[Pet Homosexual]] ever, constantly suggesting the wrong advice for his straight female friend.

* Patton Oswalt has a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvCwY7EwMx4 bit] on his ''Finest Hour'' CD where he recalls being asked to read for [[Cliché Storm|a factory-produced rom com]] that had one of these. He decided to read the part as if he was the dumbest [[Pet Homosexual]] ever, constantly suggesting the wrong advice for his straight female friend.

== [[Video Games]] ==