Given that friendships center on shared interests and identity support, it’s no surprise that people tend to befriend those who are similar demographically (age, gender, economic status, etc.). As just one example, studies of straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons find that, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, people are more likely to have close friendships with others of the same ethnicity (Galupo, 2009). But people also regularly defy this norm, forging friendships that cross demographic lines, known as cross-category friendships (Galupo, 2009). Such friendships are a powerful way to break down ingrouper and outgrouper perceptions and purge people of negative stereotypes. The three most common cross-category friendships are cross-sex, cross-orientation, and interethnic.