That Mark Wahlberg turned down a role in Brokeback Mountain has been written about. Said Wahlberg in a 2007 interview: "I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive - the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, 'I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more...' Thankfully, he didn't...I didn't rush to see Brokeback, it's just not my deal... Obviously, it was done in taste - look how it was received." Now, the National Enquirer reports that Wahlberg turned down the role on the advice of his priest: "The 38-year-old reformed bad boy relies on his closest confidante and longtime religious mentor, the Rev. James Flavin, to help him pick and choose his parts. 'Mark is a practicing Catholic, and he never makes a final decision on a starring role until Father Flavin gives his OK,' an insider revealed to The Enquirer. 'Mark says he owes his career to Father Flavin.' ... 'Father Flavin pushes Mark to honor his religious roots,' said the source. 'Even though Mark was offered one of the leads in Brokeback Mountain, he passed because of the gay subject matter, which clashes with Catholic doctrine.'" Of course, playing a coke and meth-addicted hustler with a 10-inch penis in Boogie Nights was fine.

When top Justice Department official Tom Perez sat down with gay leaders in Milwaukee last week, a member of the audience challenged him about a legal brief the department filed last year that offended many in the gay community. "Someone brought up the DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act] brief and how hateful it was to LGBT people. He said look at least in the more recent briefs the language had been changed," said Brion Collins, a spokesman for the LGBT Center, which hosted the discussion. The brief filed last June contained references that some gay and lesbian activists viewed as comparing homosexual relationships to incest and underage marriage. At least one White House official said publicly that some of the cases cited should not have been included. Asked whether Perez had admitted that the initial brief was a mistake, Collins said, not quite: "He just ... said see the language since then." Collins said he did not have verbatim quotations or a recording of the presentation by Perez, who is assistant attorney general for civil rights and oversees the Civil Rights Division. However, his spiel to an audience of about 50 activists and law enforcement officials was mainly about the department's plans to enforce the protections against sexual-orientation-related hate crimes recently passed by Congress, Collins said. The Justice Department had no immediate response Monday evening to a request for comment on Perez's Milwaukee visit, which also included a visit with advocates for the disabled and at Marquette law school with local civil rights lawyers.

American expatriates are having a more difficult time living and working abroad, a recent Times article found, causing a small but growing number of them to renounce their United States citizenship. But there’s another group of Americans who could be adding to that tally: same-sex couples. Many same-sex couples who decide to leave the United States head for countries that recognize their unions. In fact, when we wrote a story about the extra costs same-sex couples face here in America, we learned that many leave because of immigration obstacles. Several readers left comments stating that they could not sponsor their same-sex partners for American citizenship — so they decided to migrate to places like Canada, where it’s easier to gain permanent resident status for couples since only one partner has to qualify. Besides, gay marriage is recognized there. Not all same-sex couples who move abroad will ultimately renounce their citizenship, of course, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. David Cohen, a senior partner at Campbell Cohen, an immigration law firm in Montreal, said he had seen a significant increase in the number of same-sex couples who emigrated from the United States to Canada over the last 10 years. The couples head north for many reasons, he said, including “what they view as a prejudicial tax system, or they don’t feel they are entitled to the same benefits as heterosexual married couples, or they feel there is more tolerance,” Mr. Cohen said. “And there have been a fair number of Americans who can include their same-sex partner in the application. Only one member of a couple has to qualify for permanent residence status to come to Canada.” The following readers, who commented on our October story about the costs of being gay, echoed those sentiments: Rich and Luis, of Vancouver, wrote: Heterosexuals can sponsor their partners to become U.S. permanent residents; same-sex couples cannot. My now-husband and I had to move to Canada to stay together. We were both professionals in our native countries. Now my husband, a medical technologist, is working at Staples, and I’m making $25,000 less annually with poor benefits at a temporary job with no job security, although at least the job is in my field. It was expensive to become permanent residents, and the move was expensive, as are trips back to see my family. Megan, of Canada, said: Try being a bi-national gay couple. We have paid over $70,000 to be together. My partner is Indian and I am American and yet we have to live in Canada if we are to be together. And Rebecca, of New Jersey: My wife and I have been together for 5 years and I am in the process of becoming a Canadian permanent resident so that we can live in the same country. It has cost nearly $10,000 so far. Mr. Cohen said he did not know whether any of his same-sex couple clients ultimately renounced their American citizenship. American transplants may be less likely to do so in Canada because of a tax treaty between the two countries, which lessens the burden of double taxation that many American expats pay in other countries, he added. Many of the renunciations cited by the Times article were attributed to the issue of double taxation, which has irked many expats for years. Another big reason expats have renounced is because it’s becoming more challenging to keep an American bank account because of new banking regulations aimed at curbing tax evasion and preventing money from flowing to terrorists. The article says that 502 expatriates gave up their United States citizenship or permanent residency status in the last quarter of 2009, the largest quarterly figure in years, and more than twice the total for all of 2008. There were 743 renunciations last year. How many of those renunciations do you think might have been same-sex couples? What choices do couples with noncitizen partners have — and what are the costs?

Up to 400 same-sex couples are going for a Guinness World Record on March 20. They want to hold the title for the largest wedding in history. The event, at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., also celebrates the legalization of same-sex marriage in the district, which officially begins on Tuesday. The event will include a mega-ceremony, individual ceremonies and a gala reception. Mike Wilkinson, one of the planners of the super-wedding, told PR Newswire, “The GLBT community has always found strength in numbers when it comes to advocating for equality. Now we can finally stand together to affirm our love and have it recognized legally by the District of Columbia.” The newlyweds are encouraged to invite friends and family. Organizers are working with Destination D.C., the district’s tourism bureau, to help out-of-town couples make travel arrangements.

Tyra Banks unexpectedly came out of the closet this past month... in favor of keeping gay men gay in gay porn, that is. During the January 22nd airing of the show entitled, Gay for Pay, Ms. Banks made the most definitve (some might say even generational) stance to date on the topic, with such important statements as, "So, then, like... uhm, I guess it gets hard for you." More monumental than the Moon Landing; Hockey's 1980 Olympic Gold Medal showdown between the former Soviet Union and the USA; and the answer behind whose face really is on the Shroud of Turin combined, this episode finally puts to bed, any lingering questions we had regarding the relative importance this much maligned Gay for Pay industry has to us in our everyday lives. Awkwardly, right now, you're probably thinking "Well, exactly, how much RedLight?" And upon further inspection, in the privacy of my own quarters (accoutrements, like towels, properly stowed), I answer you with "bigger than a bread-basket, my friend... bigger than a bread-basket" (ba-da-bing). Case in point, while interviewing one of the supposedly "straight" actors, named "Kurt" (pictured Above), she plays to the camera, instinctually engendering her wrinkled nose upwards in a show of titilating disgust. As poignant as Katie Couric's interview of Sarah Palin truly was, Tyra seems even more adept at getting her guest, Kurt, to unassumingly describe his experiences as "...[f]or me, to make what I do sleeping with one guy a month [on film], I would have to sleep with about 20 different women." The pain. It must be just awful; in which case, I'll have what Kurt's having. As if to solidify our resolve to gainfully lift these poor, misplaced hunks out of poverty--by secretly purchasing their X-rated videos--we listen, fixedly, as the tearfully troubled twink chronicles his "doggy-styled" journey as an exploited porn star. Soon after, the camera quickly pans right and catches an attractive, young blonde woman passing the same un-sympathetic judgment (or disgust) that Tyra earlier expresses. Ladies and Gentleman, I implore you. This truly is America's most momentous issue in hand. Let's yank it together and mount this daisy-train to its inevitable, gloriously-culminating Choo-Choo! Followed by rest and relaxation; and a GPS to Mapquest my way home. Go on and tell us your thoughts on the subject of being Gay for Pay. See a replay of it here: TYRA BANKS: Gay for Pay .