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Heath Ledger's tragic death should be acknowledged for both his art and his contribution to making reducing homophobia worldwide. Compare Heath's choice to Mark Wahlberg, also offered the role of Ennis, and who is on record as saying the role "creeped him out." Here's to Heath, who chose not to be a creep.

I'd hate to see the effect of Brokeback to be little more than adding an adjective to slang dictionaries. Two years after Brokeback showed a major movie featuring queer characters could be profitable, entertainment writers are asking why there has been little progression in further queer characters in mainstream movies.

Consider how many, or how few, LGBTQ mainstream characters there have been in mainstream moviesnot low-budget horror movies, cult movies, or foreign filmsI'm talking mainstream and of main characters since, say, Philadelphia, other than Brokeback. There's the recent pretend-queer character of Over Her Dead Body. The fake for-laughs gay characters of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry; the okay-because-they're-vampires Interview with a Vampire; the stereotype gay characters of The Birdcage; the obsessive killer of The Talented Mr. Ripley; the disturbed murderer of Monster.

Brokeback stands alone as not sparking a phenomenon of similarly-themed movies. As a recent article by Adam Vary in EW.com suggests, movies that do feature queer main characters still pigeonhole queer roles to best friend or villain. In other words, says Vary, don't plan on a new thriller or action-adventure film featuring a queer Jason Bourne.

Too often any mainstream queer character is in the context of a "heavy" movie that you feel obligation to attend, i.e. Philadelphia or the upcoming Harvey Milk biography, and Boys Don't Cry can be thrown in here too. Worthwhile efforts, good intentions, but does it always have to be about dying? Why can't there be a queer Michael Clayton, for example? The movie does not have to focus on the principal character's LGBTQ-ness. sexuality of the character should be matter of fact, mere backgroundbut there. More movies with matter of fact attitude would be wholeheartedly progressive.

While we're on the topic, there hasn't really been a female Jason Bourne either (much less a female queer Jason Bourne). The closest so such a role was Ripley from the Alien quartet, Sarah Conner, and Lara Croft. I'm probably forgetting a few, but that shows how few there are.

On television, the realm is much more inclusive. Women have a chance to kick ass without

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