To a degree, gay culture has always been elitist. Wit and erudition have always been held in disproportionately high esteem, as have near-impossible beauty standards. Moreover, snobbery will appear within any culture that has become dominant: where there is structure, there are echelons. Today, gay culture is no longer on the fringes: it’s slap bang in the middle of things. From technology and politics – Tim Cook, Sam Altman, Wes Streeting – to media and the arts – Elton John, Andy Cohen, Alan Hollinghurst and the younger crop: Jeremy O’Harris, Ncuti Gatwa, Troye Sivan – gay men are running the show. And those beneath them, whether gay or not, seek to ape their glamorous ways.