“Straight allies, and particularly women, are a vital part of the fight for gay rights. “So many women have acted as protectors, cheerleaders, and supporters of their gay friends, but always in the background,” Davidson says. These days, straight women and gay men who get along would probably just be called friends, but “handbags” were often vocal and visual supporters of the LGBTQ community when discrimination - legal and otherwise - was still rampant. Her story is one of several in a new documentary Davidson is directing called “Handbag: The Untold Story of the Fag Hag.” She has just raised $41,000 for the film set to be released in 2018.ĭavidson says she is not sure what she feels about the term “fag hag.” It has a derogatory air, so she prefers “handbag.” But both refer to the same thing - straight women who have strong, often highly intense and mutually supportive relationships with gay men. “It can be really confusing,” she tells. People ask, couldn’t we tell we were falling in love with a gay man? They say we’re idiots, but they’re a man - we like men - and they encapsulate everything you want in a man.” I couldn’t say it was because he was gay,” said the 46-year-old.ĭavidson, from Sydney, Australia, says she’s not the first straight woman to fall for a gay man. I couldn’t say he wasn’t interested in my whole gender. “I said, ‘I tried, but he wasn’t interested in me.’ I wore that because I loved him. Nonetheless, she agreed to one last favor and didn’t reveal the real reason why they parted ways. “He broke my heart into a million, billion pieces,” she says. Like most people, Monica Davidson was devastated when her boyfriend dumped her.