On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:51:21 -0600, Gerald Clough   
    wrote:   
      
   >It may be proper to distinguish between gays of the old West and men who   
   >resorted to homosexual activity in the absence of women, the later   
   >certainly more common than the romantics of Brokeback Mtn.   
      
   That seems true.  In general the homosexuality would've been   
   situational.  They probably didn't think much of it since there   
   weren't all the publicized labels and rubric we have today.  My mother   
   told me that back in the 30s when she was in college at Gulf Port,   
   Mississippi, she recalled these two coeds who seemed to be all over   
   each other.  In retrospect from our contemporary times she figured   
   they were enacting a lesbian affair, but at the time that never   
   occurred to her nor the other coeds in the absence of a "gay" rubric   
   and all the baggage that carries.  They didn't think a thing of it.   
   May be the same thing with our hypothetical old time gay cowboys (or   
   pirates, sailors, logging teams, miners, etc.) - they didn't think a   
   thing of it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)