Is '300' Gay?

So here's what some say:

> HOLLYWOOD WIRETAP: "Anyone with a college-level knowledge of Greek history should know that the Spartan Army -- that same Spartan Army celebrated in Warner Bros.' 300 -- was not only a largely gay force, but encouraged homosexual relations among soldiers. Usually, such romance concerned an older mentor and a younger boy.... Now, to state the obvious, we're not condoning sex between men and boys (just as we're not encouraging the abandonment of weak babies in the wilderness, another Spartan societal norm). But to General Pace's point, not only is homosexuality in the military not a bad thing, it was the cornerstone of one of the most powerful fighting forces ever known."

> DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY: "I'm told today that one of the biggest audiences for Warner Bros.' 300 is gay men. Because of these amazing 8-pack abs on those big-screen actors. Yummy."

> AFTER ELTON: "Hot, shirtless, muscle-bound actors aside...gay history has been erased from 300 and replaced with negative stereotypes."

> DAN SAVAGE: "Some feel the film is homophobic; some feel it's a conservative, pro-war piece of agitprop. Homophobic? It's Ann Coulter on a meth binge. The Persian army is an armed gay-pride parade, a threat to all things decent and, er, Greek. The king of the Spartans—among the most notorious boy-fuckers in all of ancient history—dismisses Athenian Greeks as weak-willed 'philosophers and boy lovers.' The Persian emperor? An eight-foot-tall black drag queen—mascara, painted-on eyebrows, pink lip gloss. Emperor RuPaul is positively obsessed with men kneeling in front of him. Why gay up the Persians? So that straight boys in the theater can identify with the Spartan king and his 300 soldiers—all of whom appear to have been recruited from and outfitted by the International Male catalog."