Insightful critique..I too am always annoyed at the obligatory drag queen, whining Nellie queens and club boys risking all for sex. Its an image that will take generations to play down and very typical of late 80s-90s gay themed movies.
The saving grace, for whatever its faults, was of course, Brokeback Mountain which virtually set the heterosexual community on its collective ass. Ive had more fun than should be allowed listening to them (heteros) on this IMDb board rant about the movies shortcomings. Yet on the other positive side of the coin, this single movie has done more to win converts to gays as real people than anything else in the last twenty or so yrs. My one wish is that this cinematic marvel will spawn other similar movies and show more diversity of the gay community. And hell, Im tired of feeling like Im the only one.