Those abysmal stats don’t include Netflix, which is doing a better job at including queer characters but still relegates them to the sidelines. There’s an argument to be made that at least these movies have openly gay characters at all, since we know how rare that is, but we should aim higher than just using these roles as glorified props. The Gay Best Friend character can be done right, like George in My Best Friend’s Wedding (a film ahead of its time) who turns out to be the unlikely hero of the film, or Sam in 2018’s Blockers who gets her own coming-of-age story as she wrestles with her sexuality and losing her virginity on prom night with a sincerity rarely afforded to teen girls on screen or gay characters, let alone both. In these cases, the characters break the mold of the one-dimensional caricatures we’re used to. But both of those characters are white. It’s hard to name a recent Gay Best Friend of colour who has been given any substance.