am very happy that Andrew Goldstein ’05, a personal friend of mine, has inspired a nationwide gay audience by his decision to “come out” coupled with his achievements on the lacrosse field. I only wish that other young gay and lesbian people would receive the same level of praise and encouragement for having the courage to express their sexuality in public.

Unqualified praise of Andrew and the film “Brokeback Mountain”— including the vast media attention afforded its two central characters and, by extension, sexy, white leading men— has erased the specificity of the circumstances surrounding all three men’s cultural positioning.

Andrew and the two gay shepherds in “Brokeback” have three very important things in common. Not only were they both recently lauded with the highest of praises by the most powerful gay media group in the country, GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), they are also both white and hyper-masculine— a fact that has everything to do with their being placed on a cultural pedestal.

“Brokeback” is the story of two men who are forced to retreat to an idyllic mountainside in order to express their sexuality. It is a parable of the “closet” and has been inaccurately represented as a mark of social progress for gay and lesbian people.

GLAAD has everything to gain by highlighting the film’s financial gains and popularity among heterosexual audiences, but what if the men in the film were black? It would quickly become a story of two ostensibly straight men on the “down low” and be read as testimony to the disastrous effects bred by lying to family— namely the men’s wives—and keeping secrets. Instead, Heath Ledger was nominated for an Academy Award for mumbling his lines, apparently a sign of a rich yet bottled-up emotional life with a “masculine” façade.

Is it any wonder that many Americans, gay and straight, embraced the characters of Jack and Ennis? They are certainly not flaming queens. In fact, while Ennis (Ledger) continues to assert that he is not ‘queer’ throughout the film, he begins to believe that Jack has been brutally murdered in a hate crime for being “too” gay. The man who preserves his masculinity lives on.

As a privileged white man at an Ivy League school, Andrew was lucky to have the support of friends and family when he chose to openly admit his sexuality. His impressive athletic accomplishments and “masculine” appeal have offered much to celebrate on the national stage as they make his sexuality palatable to an American public none too keen on valuing gay expression per se.

But what about the young gay and lesbian athletes who are not as successful or privileged as Andrew? Or poor athletes? Or non-white athletes? Is it as easy for them to come out? Would their teams be as supportive? And, most importantly, would they be rewarded for doing so?

Expressing one’s sexuality in public is a conditional affair drawn along gender, class, and racial lines. But we many times forget these complexities in favor of a more fantastical conception of reality, one that has swiftly glossed over the harsh homophobic undertones of “Brokeback.” Recognizing Andrew’s story on a national level does not automatically send the message that any athlete can be openly gay and receive the same kind of support he has.

Andrew’s situation has been deemed the most appropriate to warrant mass attention— at the exclusion of those who face even tougher realities. Andrew’s image offers a performance of homosexuality that is acceptable: the straight-acting gay guy.

Andrew was quoted as saying, “Hopefully one day we can look back and wonder why this was an interesting story.” I am wondering that right now.