After 'Brokeback Mountain,' the Deluge: Gay Escort Predicts a Rise in Clientele

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--I am a gift. A prize. After years of difficult repression, men with a secret seek me out as a reward for their good behavior. I make a living having sex with these closeted married men. I'm an "escort," to use the euphemism, which gives me a unique perspective on a potential, and particular, cultural fallout as this week "Brokeback Mountain" widens out not just to Britain but to every remaining crumb in America's breadbasket.

Much has been made about the "turning point" effect Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee's Oscar-jockeying film could force upon Hollywood. The movie is based on the 1997 New Yorker short story by Pulitzer Prize winning author Annie Proulx about a ferociously masculine love affair between two Wyoming ranch hands, Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis (Heath Ledger).

Never before in a major-release film have two male actors stepped so assuredly off the Hollywood fast track to kiss and love this deeply. The dam has been breached, blown apart actually, and we can expect a flood. Yes, it's about time.

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