Cowboys sex gay

A Production about two cowboys who ride horses, drive pick-up trucks and fall in love with each other has delighted Hollywood and sent a shiver of horror through America's religious heartland.

But real-life gay cowboys and Wild West historians say that the plot of Brokeback Mountain -- an Oscar favourite after topping the Golden Globes nominations -- is nothing new.

And in a claim that is likely to outrage many rural conservatives, they say that homosexuality was an unspoken norm on the American frontier, where men were close and women were scarce.

''There they were, a couple of men, alone together in isolated frontier country, for weeks or sometimes months at a time,'' says Randy Jones, 53, who was the stetson-wearing, lasso-throwing queer cowboy in the Village People and who acted as an adviser on the film.

''The mind must have passed through their minds, even if they didn't act on it, because men are sexy animals. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be so much homosexual sex in prison.''

There is growing evidence to support Jones's theory. As far back as 1882, the Texas Livestock Journal wrote that ''if the inner history of friendship amon

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