How Being (Hot) Gay Insta-Boyfriends Makes You Money

Free trips and comped wardrobes are only a thirst-click away.
How Being  Gay InstaBoyfriends Makes You Money
Illustration by Alicia Tatone

Love is love is money: It's 2018, so the virtual world is proving to be big business for #fitfam boyfriends and their expensive taste in rompers. Now you can be gay and give your hot shirtless lover the same starry eyes as a straight social-media influencer, capturing that special moment for Instagram, as thirsty followers wonder who in the fuck is snapping these pro shots of you on your "couples" getaway to Fiji. The cameraman is a ghost!

Or it's a dental assistant named April, Justin Moore and Nick Grant's housemate who moonlights as their personal photographer when the Virginia-based full-time healthcare employees aren't using their timer and a tripod. Prurient interest and an impressive line of major brands alike have caused the boyfriends to revamp their joint-couple account, @justinickpgh.

An almost exclusively scenic travelogue before Audi cut a deal with them in 2016, @justinickpgh comprises snaps of the striking Insta-studs in picture-perfect poses akin to what you might find in your (strictly PG-13) wet dreams, or maybe your mother's Sears catalog. "When we post something, we're obviously posting an image out of maybe 50 that is the best one that makes us look like we're the happiest," Moore says.

Instagram content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

That’s because happiness equals followers equals money. Though they're currently intent on using their clout to empower the LGBTQ community's underrepresented communities—because, yes, Moore says they're very aware of their white male privilege—in the last two years they've tapped into big-name companies who know the value of the pink dollar: Fossil, Uber (for a women's empowerment campaign), and Keeps, a hair loss treatment. Their IG reach of 566,000 followers even got them a trip to Portugal earlier this year.

Moore says, "Instagram has afforded us this opportunity, because travel is expensive and it does come at a cost.” TAP Air Portugal, the national airline, and Savoy Hotels and Resorts comped the men’s vacation provided they agreed to promote tourism for the country. And there's more: They've received complimentary lube specifically designed for gay men and acquired an assortment of underwear, like the mesh kind that for some stupid reason has a hole in the butt. Free is free, folks!

By advertising for companies such as Parke and Ronen, Freixenet Cava, Mr. Turk and Audi, Los Angeles-based actor and filmmaker Kit Williamson has used his Instagram platform, @kitwilliamson, boasting 117,000 followers, to supplement his income with sponsored posts often featuring his actor-husband, John Halbach. The bulk of their brand earnings financed production for season three of Williamson's queer-centric Netflix show, Eastsiders.

Instagram content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

"Instagram has given us the opportunity to travel all over the world, revamp our apartments and our wardrobes and just generally improve our lives," Williamson says.

Many other LGBTQ couples are reaping the bountiful benefits of a more diversified IG ad market, as well: world-travelers @coupleofmen recently explored Vienna and the Austrian capital's bathtubs thanks to posh accommodations; newlyweds @paulheartsergio partnered with Swarovski; and just imagine all the sexy apparel @rick_and_the_griffopotamus’, ahem… assets have garnered them.

On working with Williamson, Mr. Turk designer Jonathan Skow says he and Halbach were ideal IG models for the brand's high-end fashion because they are "fun and optimistic." "At this point," he added, "they have a fairly large Mr. Turk collection."

And rompers galore! "We legit have eight right now, which is way too many rompers for two people," he says, adding that Mr. Turk "usually" lets them keep the ones they model for IG (Mr. Turk's Hollenbeck Short Jumpsuit, worn by the husbands here, retails for $298).

No wonder my friend who has a real husband wants to be pretend IG husbands with me. Because Insta-rompers! Insta-travel! Insta-lube! "Chris, look at me like I'm your Insta-hubby," he'll say. The urge is strong because so is the envy. I'd love a free summer romper. Or eight.

Still, this same friend loathes for-profit Instacoupling, and he says the companies who invest in them are monetarily validating a problematic altered reality reinforcing whiteness and model bods. "It's sort of a double-edged sword," Moore explains. "We want to create this content that is uplifting because we do think it's great that gay couples are being given such a great opportunity to show the normality of our relationship, but it also comes with the caveat that [people] may not be even seeing the normality of it."

With some seemingly ticked that this kind of IG couplehood encourages steep levels of perfection unachievable in everyday life, and others (like myself) wishing for their fragmented, jet-setting lives, I polled my Facebook friends on gay men who've made a business out of being boyfriends. "Insta-nauseating," wrote one person. Another: "What, that’s a thing? Goddammit, what am I doing with my life?" And this one: "Why is it so bad to shower the world with images of gorgeous, happy, sexually liberated, successful gay men who are making coin?"

Brands willing and wanting to invest in gay social media were already making attractive straight Instacouples like Jack Morris and Lauren Bullen filthy rich, offering them as much as $9,000 per post, so: equality? Says Moore, whose posts average $3,000: "Straight couples have had this ability to be comfortable and be open and capitalize on that."

In an effort to marry advertising and activism, they've collaborated with SoulCycle, which partnered with The Trevor Project for Pride this month. Moore and Grant were offered fitness classes to raise partnership awareness on their IG platform.

"Unless the exchange of goods really fits or it supports good causes, we do our best to make sure we aren't inundated with deals," Moore says. "It is validating, however, that brands are willing to work with LGBTQ people. My hope is that they realize our community is one worth reaching out to and uplifting and that they'll continue to push this further, ensuring that advertising and outreach become increasingly intersectional."

In other words: Love is love is money. For some.

Instagram content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.