Mask-ulinity?

Rainbow, originally uploaded by haileydai.

(You love that heading... I know it.)

So, with Brokeback Mountain on it's way out—if you've been out of touch with every source of media for many months, you won't know that this is a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. It's about two cowboys who fall in love (magnificent!)—there's a lot of talk about gay men and straight men and masculinity and femininity and homosexuality and heterosexuality and spurs and stetsons, etc.

For example, I found a very interesting story in the Toronto Star about this very thing, and—despite the liberation one might experience coming out of the closet—that being a gay male in various arenas (acting, professional sports, politics, media) can still be a strike against you. Seems it's not the same bag of tricks for gay women, but I'd wager that just being a woman at all can still be a strike against you in some arenas.

Despite how our culture's attitude towards homosexuality has seemed to progress, for some the idea of a masculine gay man is still too abstract to grasp.

Actor Scott Thompson discusses various A-list actors that he seems to know are gay, but who play it straight in public to keep their careers up at the top of the alphabet. He asked that the names not be published, but now I'm just DYING to know who they are! Damn you Thompson, you with your teasing!

You can read the story here, at thestar.com (registration required, but it's free).