Yeah, that Brokeback thing is so ridiculous, I don't even know what to say. I'd imagine this is coming from right-leaning parents, not from any kids.

::wonders whether Izzard has had some kind of freaky Road To Damascus thing about wearing boys' clothes...::

??? Please to explain, as my brain isn't functioning at all and all I can think of is St. Paul (nee Saul of Tarsus), and I'm pretty sure that's not what you mean.

All the hype around Brokeback Mountain makes kids question their friendships with same sex friends.

Until the hype, kids didn't realize people could be gay!

What Nicole @@ed.

I'm sorry, I can't be friends with girls anymore, because that might make me a dyke. Hanging out with only boys will make me much more of a real girl.

He was wearing black boots, jeans, a black belt, a lavender button-up dress shirt, and a black sportcoat. There was nothing girly at all about his look. He was All Man, baby!

...I'd still be surprised if these clothes weren't bought from a women's clothing outlet. That's my point. He generally wear's women's clothes. Not flouncy girly clothes (although I still remember the early days, when he first Came Out as a TV, but before he got a stylist/someone gave him a good talking to), but usually women's clothes nevertheless, even if it's just a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt.

All the hype around Brokeback Mountain makes kids question their friendships with same sex friends

???

(1) I bet it doesn't. I don't think many kids are watching it and analyzing the dynamics of the central relationship, although I dare say a lot of them have heard of the gay cowboy movie and are making jokes about it.

(2) If it DOES...well, er, good. Nothing wrong with asking questions. 'Do I fancy person X?' is pretty easily answered if you don't fancy X. And if you do fancy them, the knowledge of the existence of a movie about gay cowboys has not magically made you gay. Although it may have cluesticked you about the fact that you're not so much with the straight.

Honest to God. They're worrying about a movie slashing people? That's...novel.

I am replacing the word "awesome" with the word "brilliant" in my vocabulary.

Bless!

Or (in regard to the same-sex friends thing) mean that parents are pressuring their kids about spending too much time with friends of the same sex. As in "aren't you spending a lot of time with X? shouldn't you spend some time with boys/girls?".

On teh Gay front, for some reason, this really irritates me: [link]

??? Please to explain, as my brain isn't functioning at all and all I can think of is St. Paul (nee Saul of Tarsus), and I'm pretty sure that's not what you mean.

Um, yes, that's what I mean. As in:

Saul Eddie wandering along, happily not being Christian wearing girls' clothes.

Kaboom! Insta-conversion en route to Damascus! Starbucks.

SaulEddie stops wearing the letter S girls' clothes and dons the letter P boys' clothes instead, and goes off to by a misogynistic Christian letter-writing s.o.b be Captain Straight of Straightonia, shopping only in Men's shops and eschewing makeup and heels.

...making more sense? Or am I hopelessly inarticulate?

eta

...wrt my, er, incisive assessment of Pauline doctrine - sorry, I make no claims to know very much about Paul, and he may have had a bad press, and been less shitty than he appears to be. My knowledge is v. patchy. Apologies if my characterisation was offensive/inaccurate.

...making more sense?

Hee! Makes much more sense now.

But transvestites don't tend to convert, not even when a deity lays them out flat on the road to Damascus. (IMHO.)

t edit Which I know that you (Fay) know.