According to a book by one of Wayme’s wives–I can’t recall which–he was tolerant of gay people and had a live-and-let-live attitude toward his gay friends, like Rock Hudson. She said something like, “Duke could overlook anything if you were a good bridge player.”
It was actually the plot of a funny episode of Maude. She intended to curse him out when she met him (he was in town for some reason) due to his chauvinistic views, and when she met him (he appeared as himself) he made the same remarks she hated, and rather than curse him out she ends up melting in his arms and dancing with him.
Plus, according to that scruffy-looking guy in Repo Man, John Wayne WAS gay.
Yeah, it’s not like you had to go into combat, either. Reagan made training films for the military. Glenn Miller formed the Army Air Force Band. Hell, neither of my grandfathers “fought”, one was a mechanic, the other was a driver for a general. But they still signed up. The one who was a mechanic in the Air Force has epilepsy, for crissakes.
Then again, Gregory Peck was deferred because of a bad back, and I don’t think anyone would call Peck a coward. Of course, he wasn’t a gung-ho war hawk, either.
Topic? I wish Brokeback Mountain was playing here in Pittsburgh. I guess I could just wait for the DVD.