The Gay Blog That’s Been Saved By The Auto Bailout

First off, Vanity Fair has a blog dedicated just to gays and cars. It’s called, Stick Shift and it’s pretty damn awesome. If you don’t believe us, just check out the video post above on the search for the world’s best Twinkmobile. We can see the editorial meeting where this born:

Graydon Carter: We need something about cars for the site. People love cars.
Random Staffer #1: How about a blog for gays about cars? I mean, they’re the only people who go to our site, anyway…
Graydon Carter: I dunno. Sounds pretty gay.
Random Staffer #2: It’ll be ironic, too. We’ll be bucking the popular convention. It’ll be totally Spy.
Graydon Carter: Sold!

While the idea of a gay car blog sounds like a total gimmick, the fact they got a top notch writer like Brett Berk (The Gay Uncle’s Guide to Parenting) to write the thing makes the whole concept work without being needlessly gratuitous or too clever for its own good. Case in point: Today’s post on the world’s gayest car, The Jetta.

Berk writes:

“There’s no inherent shame in owning a VW Jetta. It’s a perfectly sturdy, mildly sporty German-engineered vehicle. It just happens to be a cultural cliche—or, perhaps more appropriately, many cultural cliches. It outnumbers nearly every car on college campuses, so it’s a student cliche. It’s a default vehicle for youngish urbanites—the parking lot of my friend’s building in Boston is populated solely by Jettas. But most importantly, it’s a gay cliche. It’s the most researched car on gaywheels.com. It’s been named “gayest car ever” by the great/grating hosts of NPR’s Cartalk. And a quick queerusal of any gay ghetto will reveal a preponderance of rainbow-flag/one human family/I’m Gay For Barack stickered Vee-Dub sedans.”

Berk’s on a mission to find a young lesbian Hollywood executive a replacement for her current muffmobile (a Jetta, natch) and looks at all the wagony, sedany options available before deciding on:

“After much mulling, and insomnia, I finally came up with the perfect vehicle. It’s durable. It’s zippy. It’s upscale without over-reaching. It has cognoscenti eco badge-value, like a hybrid. It’s zeitgeist, and in-demand. It’s frugal. And it has a roof rack, and a yawning cargo hold. Plus, it just won, like, Greenest Car Ever. There’s only one problem: it’s a Jetta—the new VW Jetta Clean-Diesel Wagon.”