Ehrenstein is setting up straw men and knocking them down. Of course, there were gay movies before ''Brokeback Mountain.'' But they were mostly little independent films that might've garnered critical raves, but little public attention. ''Brokeback'' is arguably the first mainstream serious gay love story with this caliber of name talent (i.e., Oscar-winning director, hot young movie stars) since ''Making Love'' (1982). Of course, there are openly gay actors who could play Ennis and Jack beautifully, but the sad reality is that practically none of them are household names who could open a movie. For the record, many of the ''queer films'' that Ehrenstein listed starred straight men playing gay. He quotes Craig Lucas, who wrote ''The Dying Gaul,'' a gay film that stars two straight guys - Campbell Scott and Peter Sarsgaard - as the leads. Why is he holding ''Brokeback'' to a different standard than ''Gaul''?
Another sad reality is the list of openly gay actors is a short one. Hollywood still seems like a gigantic closet. There are no openly gay male matinee idols. It took them 7 years to get ''Brokeback'' made, and why? Because lots of actors turned it down, or else they were warned they'd be committing ''career suicide'' by their straight - and gay - managers, publicists, agents. ... Maybe the next big gay love story will have a happy ending. Maybe it'll even star openly gay actors. But for now, ''Brokeback'' is still a breakthrough.
