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"Brokeback Mountain," the story of two male ranch hands who become romantically involved, led all films with eight nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards. "Brokeback," based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx, picked up nods for best picture, best director (Ang Lee), best actor (Heath Ledger), best supporting actress (Michelle Williams) and best supporting actor (Jake Gyllenhaal). Its screenplay adaptation, by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, also received a nomination.

(Gender bending, expressing non-traditional gender identities, isn't new, but it's increasing.) Like many female UW- Madison students, Dite Bray and her friends walk past the fraternity houses on Langdon Street wondering if the men inside will notice them. Unlike most of the other students, it's not because they're looking for dates. "I've walked around town in drag before," Bray said. "I'm frightened, because I'm walking down Langdon Street and we have fake facial hair stuck to our faces. I wouldn't do that by myself, but in a group it's OK." Bray, 24, is one of the growing number of young...

Brian F. Monfort, 27, was arrested in Springfield, Ohio, in April and charged with child enticement based on an arrest report noting that twice, in January and March, he had approached children and paid them money to insult him for being fat, supposedly as a tactic to inspire himself to lose weight. [Springfield News-Sun, Willie Windsor, 54, of Phoenix has for several years lived as a full-time baby, wearing frilly dresses, diapers and bonnets, sucking on a pacifier, eating Gerber cuisine, and habitually clutching a rag doll, in a home filled with oversized baby furniture. According to a long Phoenix...

THE family who accused Michael Jackson is now living in fear of reprisals from the star's fans. Gavin Arvizo, his parents and siblings were branded charlatans and liars by Jackson's defence team, who said they had tried to pull off "the biggest con of their careers". Meanwhile, the British journalist Martin Bashir - the man whose documentary about the singer led to the trial - faces the possibility of a multi-million dollar lawsuit from the singer. Aides of the singer began legal moves against Mr Bashir and Granada Television, which made the documentary, within days of its screening in 2003,...

CONSTITUTION PARTY GAINS STRENGTH WITH PEROUTKA/BALDWIN TICKET - The Constitution Party was the only alternative party that increased it's vote totals this year compared to the 2000 election! Constitution Party members have cause to celebrate! Their 2004 presidential ticket – Michael A. Peroutka for President and Dr. Chuck Baldwin for Vice President – received 30% more votes this year than in the previous election! Nationally, the Peroutka-Baldwin ticket received 132,067 votes compared to 101,278 for the Constitution Party’s 2000 candidate, Howard Phillips. The increase in Peroutka's tally is particularly significant when compared to the decline in voter support for other...

We can't tell if this is parody or self-parody, though we suspect the latter--and in either case, it's hilarious. Late last week a new Web site, SorryEverybody.com, appeared on the scene. Here's its manifesto:Some of us--hopefully most of us--are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us--hopefully most of us--are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't.The site features...

SAN FRANCISCO - The biggest social issue in this presidential race is the debate over whether gays should be allowed to marry. Louisiana voters recently tilted 4-to-1 in favor of adding a ban on same-sex marriage to their state constitution, and 71 percent of Missouri voters did the same last month. Voters in at least nine more states will weigh the question on their ballots in November, and legislation on the question has been introduced in at least 25 states this year. President Bush supports amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democratic presidential...

I'd never visited the McKees Rocks striptease bar before, except to interview a bouncer a few years back. The bar, which features separate stages for male and female exotic dancers, had received several complaints from gay male customers who apparently were barred from watching Club Erotica's all-male show. I told this story to a straight male friend as we entered the noisy, testosterone-filled joint. The complaints didn't faze him. "That makes sense. Any guy who gets off watching other guys is sick," he said. His words would have carried more weight if my buddy hadn't enjoyed the evening's entertainment so...

Museum on a mission to save local gay history Collection shows long fight to gain rights in Houston By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle HOUSTON'S GLBT MUSEUM Long after the odor faded, the memory lingers. In a dimly lit, nighttime alley, a lone man rummaged through a giant trash bin, heaving bag after garbage bag to the pavement. He could have been a homeless man digging for a meal. But this intrepid anonymous raider of the greasy Dumpster was a guerrilla of history. His mission: to save from an ignoble burial in a city landfill the documents of a...

N.Y. Lawyer Fined for Barking at Witness Fri May 21, 7:27 AM ET Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo! By SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - A lawyer who barked like a dog at a witness during a deposition has been fined $8,500 for misconduct and harassment of opponents. The lawyer, David Fink, made false statements, failed to comply with court orders and engaged in frivolous conduct during a breach of contract suit over home furnishing designs, Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos said. Fink's client Carl Levine represents designers of home furnishings to manufacturers...

Monday, May 10, 2004 Edwards slams abuse at Democrats' dinner By Gregory Korte The Cincinnati Enquirer COLUMBUS - The only way to send a message to the rest of the world that Americans emphatically reject the humiliating abuse of Iraqi prisoners is to elect John F. Kerry as president, Sen. John Edwards told Ohio Democrats at their annual dinner. "All of us - it goes without saying - condemn it. It goes against the values we hold as Americans. Just think about the damage it's doing to our image around the world," Edwards said Saturday night, adding that the prisoner...

GERMANTOWN, Wis. — It was a stench of decay that caused authorities to search an apartment in suburban Milwaukee. They found a home crawling with life: About 200 creatures — including alligators, scorpions and carnivorous beetles — formed a bizarre menagerie kept alive by a woman who fed them roadkill. "The smell was just unbelievable," said William Mitchell, a state conservation warden who found about 70 ducks cramped in a basement pen with droppings covering the floor. "It was really stinking. ... It made my eyes water." Neighbors had complained about the foul smell. Animal carcasses were in a freezer...

A German artist has written to the country's zoos to ask if they would feed his body to the piranhas once he's dead. Karl Friedrich Lentze, 56, said he came up with the idea after reading about a Dutch man who wanted to be fed to snails. Lentze, from Berlin, said he liked the idea but wanted something that would gobble him up a lot quicker. Cologne Zoo is one of those he has contacted, justifying the appeal by saying it could have educational purposes if, for example, it was done in front of a group of biology students. But...

The mainstream media have two complementary tactics in covering homosexual-related news: Flooding the zone with stories portraying gays as victims or heroes, and damming up the flow of information, when it would present gays in a less than favorable light. And sometimes both tactics are used within the same story.Consider coverage of the illegal same-sex “weddings” in San Francisco and New Paltz, New York. Several stories on the New Paltz “weddings” mentioned Tom Duane, an openly gay New York State Senator, who represents the Chelsea section of Manhattan.On March 2, Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams charged New Paltz Mayor...

QUEERLY BELOVEDD.A.: I'll arrest same-sex weddersSays homosexuals purporting to be 'married' committing frauds Posted: March 4, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A district attorney running for Pennsylvania attorney general is vowing to arrest anyone associated with same-sex weddings. "There should be no Rosie O'Donnell weddings in Pennsylvania, and there won't be if I'm the attorney general," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Even though same-sex marriages are currently illegal in the Keystone State and there haven't been any homosexual couples forthcoming to seek a marriage license, Castor issued a letter to the local reigster of wills...

<p>Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said yesterday that Congress "must act and act soon" to prevent a few judges and local officials from redefining marriage for everyone, as lawmakers held the first day of hearings on a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a male-female union.</p>

QUEERLY BELOVED'Freedom to Marry Week' celebratedHomosexual activists 'raise awareness' about same-sex marriage Posted: February 10, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Homosexual and lesbian activists have kicked off "Freedom to Marry Week," hoping to use events planned across the nation to build support for legalizing same-sex marriage. "Once again, as they have for the last six years, same sex couples and our non-gay allies will organize events to help our neighbors see the value of full equality under the law," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, in a statement. "The gay and non-gay people taking part in Freedom to...

<p>Alan Davidson and Kfir Alfia are two serious guys with a wicked sense of humor. On a "lark" in February, they decided to get the "full San Francisco experience" with a night on the town and an antiwar rally the next day.</p>

<p>Rising from the desert in one of the flattest, most remote places on earth is an 80-foot temple topped by the stylized figure of a man.</p> <p>It wasn't here last week and it won't be here after Saturday night, except for a pile of ashes where it is to be ritually burned to the ground.</p>