A cry of the heart in the form of buggery...

First, read this silliness...

"Shortbus," an explicit, largely improvised arthouse flick that includes a rendition of the American national anthem during a gay sex scene, is a direct provocation, director John Cameron Mitchell admitted.

"It's a little bit of a cri de coeur to us, a little bit of a call to arms" against the prevailing conservatism, he told a media conference, adding that his country was living in "the era of Bush, which is about clamping down, being scared."

The 43-year-old, whose previous work was "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," about a transsexual rock singer, said the film was his own small act of defiance against Bush.

"If you can't do elections you might as well do erections," he said.

Although the first half of the film is filled with sex, including orgies and masturbation, the act itself is not meant to be erotic but rather to challenge the audience and make it confront issues such as loneliness, the illusion of self-sufficiency and other seemingly unrelated problems, Mitchell said.

One scene likely to create controversy in the United States and some other countries shows a gay threesome in which one participant joyfully bellows "The Star Spangled Banner."

I'm sorry, but, WHAT? How twisted up a mind does one have to have to think that a picture of catamites doing what they do while singing the national anthem means anything at all? If this is the cry of your heart, you are profoundly poor of spirit.

"Hmm, here I have a couple of million euros. What movie can I make that will be meaningful, that will advance the human condition, that will show my heart?

I KNOW!!!"

Every decent homosexual I've ever known just wanted his or her sexuality to be irrelevant, as it should usually be. Why do some people think that I, and straight people generally, give a rat's scabby ass about some stranger's sexual tastes? Here's a clue- WE DON"T. Unless I am or might become involved, I would rather that EVERYONE'S sexual tastes and activities remain private. It's NOT MY BUSINESS. Just as mine is not theirs.

But that's not enough for this character. He has to put it in the spotlight, "Look at me!"

Don't even get me started with making homosexuals a legally protected class. If we're going to start protecting people based on whom they like to fuck, sign me up for some affirmative action because I like women to wear heels and stockings. That's a sexual taste, just like Mr. Mitchell's is.

And if it's exterme sexual tastes only, then we should start out protecting furries.

News flash, artboy- you can't "defy" someone who is not trying to assert control over you. And where is this "clamping down"?

I'll tell you where it is. It's in the places where they HANG sodomites. Why don't you try to "directly provoke" the people who would legally and proudly KILL YOU? Sing the IRANIAN anthem, or the SAUDI.

Then you WOULD be standing up for homosexuals who ARE persecuted.

Lightweight.