These are the men who are there for you when you need them.

You trust them completely - and often turn to them for advice and comfort.

And the best part? They won’t try to sleep with you - or try to steal your man.

Straight women place far more trust in their gay friends than heterosexual men - or even their girlfriends - when it comes to advice about relationships.

And the explanation lies in the fact gay men have fewer ulterior motives, a new study revealed.

It suggests a straight man may be trying to lire a woman into bed.

And that straight women can be wary of turning to other straight women for dating advice, fearing they may be competition for the attention of the same men.

In contrast, a gay best friend is considered there to offer great advice and comfort – usually with no hidden agenda.

That’s why, University of Texas at Arlington researchers have concluded, friendships between gay men and straight women are so meaningful.

The paper’s lead author Eric Russell, a doctoral student at the University of Texas’s Department of Psychology, said: ‘This line of research provides novel experimental evidence that there is more to the gay male-straight female friendships than just what we see on TV.

'Certain social psychological processes are, indeed, driving these relationships in real life.’

Researchers actually conducted four separate studies involving approximately 700 heterosexual female students at a major public university in the southwest US.

The first study had 167 women evaluate mock social media profiles of either a straight woman, straight man or gay man.

During the study, the women placed more trust in a gay man’s dating advice – but not their career advice – than the same advice given by heterosexual individuals.

The second study involved 272 women, who showed that they perceived a gay man to be more sincere than either a straight male or straight female.

That was determined by placing the women in situations where they were told potentially false information that could lead to competition for a mate or a sexual encounter.

And in the third study, researchers presented 128 women with two mock news articles.

The first article showed that there were more females than males on campuses around the nation – thereby making dating more competitive – and the second discussed sex-specific sleep patterns.

After reading the articles, the women were asked to complete computer tasks relating to the social media profiles of a gay man and a straight women.

The results showed that the article about the increase in dating competition enhanced the straight women’s trust in a gay man over another straight women.

Vivian Ta, a graduate student in the university’s psychology department and a co-author of the study, said: ‘It’s riskier to trust other straight women when mating competition is high.

‘Unlike other women, gay men do not undermine women when they are seeking out mating partners.

‘Gay men do not compete for the same men as straight women do.’

The fourth and final study had 129 women who showed that when they perceived heightened levels of mating competition, they were more open to forming friendships with gay men.

Dr. William Ickles of the University of Texas, another co-author of the study, said: ‘These studies are both timely and important because of the recent seismic shift in public opinion in support of equal rights and acceptance of gay individuals.’

Each of the participants were enrolled in at least one undergraduate psychology class and received class credit for their participation.

The paper was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.