Gay Men and the Straight Women who Love Them

While watching this Canadian documentary, I began to feel a bit uneasy with some of characterizations of straight/gay relationships represented in this film. Beyond the humor of Margaret Cho and references to the pairing of Liz Taylor and Montgomery Cliff, the filmmakers selected female subjects who had complicated, if not webbed, emotional ties to their gay friends. It appears in this film that the straight women emotionally involved with gay men heave weighty expectations on them. The gay friend, in effect, has become a substitute for the absent heterosexual companion.