The new degaying of Hollywood: Alexander. Troy. Brokeback Mountain. De-Lovely. Straightening up history's heroes, desexing literature's love stories, Hollywood is making gay movies-without the "gay".(Film)

Is Hollywood on lavender alert? After decades of slow and steady improvement in depicting queers on-screen--front indie films like Maurice and Boys Don't Cry to well-intentioned major studio flicks like Making Love and Philadelphia and groundbreakers like In & Out--Hollywood seems to be living in terror of showing intimacy between two men. Lesbian intimacy is even less visible, unless it's presented as seedy sport for straight men.

Catwoman gives Halle Berry a mincing coworker who is so outlandishly gay (clapping his hands girlishly and cooing over "man sandwich"…