How expensive is it to be gay?

Think being gay is about sexuality or culture? Think again. According to a viral TikTok, being a gay guy is all about consumerism: specifically, spending buttloads of money on subscriptions, prescriptions, and a whole lotta leisure.

TikToker Aaron Connelly opened the video saying, “It costs $1,403.98 to be gay in New York City.” That figure is per month, he says, and it doesn’t include rent, food, or any other standard living expenses. What, then, is Connelly spending that chunk of change on?

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According to Connelly, the average NYC gay must devote their money to fitness ($330 for Equinox and $160 on Barry’s Bootcamp), grooming ($150 on Botox, $100 on haircuts, and $80 on manicures), their hookup habits ($40 on Grindr Unlimited — the app’s most expensive subscription — and $19.99 on Raya, not to mention $75 on Ubers for any gentleman callers and $120 on cruising at the Russian & Turkish Baths), medicine ($10 for PrEP and $10 for DoxyPEP), and a few creature comforts ($240 on cold brew, $74 on a Diptyque candle, and $4.99 on WOW Presents Plus to keep up with RuPaul’s Drag Race).

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“I’m sorry, but is expensive to be a homosexual in New York,” he laments to end the video. “How did we get here?”

The real question, sir, is how did you get here? Because the rest of the gay internet (including other folks in New York) can’t wrap their heads around Connelly’s budget, nor how he seems to think it’s the standard for anyone in the city.

This is a very VERY specific kind of gay man. I simply cannot relate.

— Terence (@cracked2thfairy) March 5, 2024

is botox an obligatory gay experience im so confused

— Lung Diseases Rule! (LDR)🖤🏳️‍⚧️ (@charlisbuttflap) March 5, 2024

Whoever is charging him $100 a month to buzz his head… pic.twitter.com/GK2UDG26OU

— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) March 5, 2024

Clock it , also who pays for Grindr …… and haircuts when you’re bald 😭

— 𖤐 maureen prescott 𖤐🇵🇸 (@PreXtious) March 5, 2024

How did we get here? We didn't. You did.

— Rustyroot (@Carl34044390) March 5, 2024

The only important thing here is the wow presents subscription

— Littlebjork (@littlebjorkster) March 5, 2024

The real gag of the situation? Connelly appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race a decade ago, as Detox’s partner for the Season 5 makeover challenge.

Connelly himself chimed in on the controversy he’d started with another TikTok.

“Not only was I Gay Twitter’s main character today,” he said, “I also locked myself out of my apartment!”

Clearly, it’s not Connelly’s day — but with spending habits like that, he shouldn’t have much to complain about.