Gay Caballeros

Tonight's 78th annual Academy Awards presentation promises to be the gayest in history: Brokeback Mountain, Capote and Transamerica are among the flicks featuring homosexual or transgendered themes to earn major nominations. But no matter who wins, official Hollywood's version of a coming-out party will have nothing on Cowboys, Capote and Other Queers, an "Oscar FUNdraiser" sponsored by Bent Lens Cinema, a local GLBT-oriented film group.

This is the organization's fourth Academy Awards viewing soiree, but it's the first at a commercial venue: Bombay Bistro, an Indian restaurant at 1800 Broadway in Boulder. Ticket buyers are encouraged to come in costume — prizes will be awarded for best outfits — and strut down a red carpet lined with amateur fashion experts eager to get their Joan Rivers on. Inside, the big show will screen on multiple oversized televisions.

Notes Constance Spheeris, who heads the Bent Lens board, "People in Hollywood ooh and aah when a straight actor plays a gay, lesbian or transgender role, but gay actors have played straight roles for years, and no one says a thing." If the standards were reversed, she continues, "just think how many Oscars Rock Hudson would have won."

Cowboys, Capote and Other Queers begins at 6 p.m. The $50 admission price includes a full buffet dinner and two drinks; proceeds will help fund future Bent Lens events. For more information, phone the Bombay Bistro at 303-444-4721 or check out www.bentlens.org.
Mon., March 5, 6 p.m.