At first, the responses were nil, followed by a sardonic, “Crickets,” and a damning: “Good luck with that.” But then people actually started messaging me, giving some solid recommendations that put the “think” back in “twink.” They were people who claimed to know-or to be-well-rounded twinks who had that familiar cute look, but not the airheaded demeanor we too often associate with that genre of gay. Desperate to debunk a stereotype, I recently put out a Facebook post asking friends if they know of a gay twink who’s actually smart, not always giddy, and doesn’t only care about pop divas.
