No Gay T-Shirts In School

The Spencer-Van Etten School Board voted to review its dress code policy at Tuesday night’s school board meeting. This comes just four days after a tenth grader was asked to leave school because of the message on her t-shirt.
Now, 16-year-old Heathyre Farnham is speaking out.
"They definitely weren't mean, but they were just like, 'You gotta take it off,’” said Farnham.
On Friday, she wore a t-shirt to school saying, ‘Gay? Fine by me.’
She says her principal, Ann Sincock, said the shirt was inappropriate and asked her to change it, cover it up, or turn it inside-out. When she didn't, Heathyre was sent home. She says she's worn the shirt before and never had any problems.
"I haven't gotten anything bad, just a lot of support from people I don't even talk to who just appreciated what I was doing,” she said.
After community members spoke out at the school board meeting, Superintendent Steven Schoonmaker said Principal Sincock made the right decision.
"From everything I can tell, administratively, procedure was followed. I do think, in looking at the overall situation, that it really is an issue where we might have a flawed policy,” said Schoonmaker.
People we spoke to supported Heathyre, and her t-shirt.
"I don't have a problem with her shirt. I'm not one to decide what is and isn't appropriate for school. That's a job for the people in that room and the teachers and the principals,” said Spencer resident Doreen Hettich-Atkins.
"Something really needs to be done about this. And what's been done is just to make it seem like this town is more bigoted and ignorant, which isn't true, I think this town has a lot of potential. I think the issue that's being discussed is not helping that issue,” said former student Chloe Friedman.
In the meantime, Heathyre says she'll continue to wear her t-shirt -- even at school.
from WENY TV

Matthew Shepard Act Moves One Step Closer

The Democratic-led Senate on Thursday voted to let federal law enforcement help states prosecute attacks on gays, attaching the provision to a massive spending bill for the Iraq war and daring President Bush to veto the whole package.
The White House wasn't commenting on the prospects for a veto of the underlying defense authorization bill. But some Republicans warned that's just what would happen after the Senate voted by voice to accept the hate crimes amendment.
"The president is not going to agree to this social legislation on the defense authorization bill," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "This bill will get vetoed."
Still, the hate crimes provision attracted significant support from the president's party. Nine Republicans were among the 60 senators who voted to halt any filibusters and bring the matter to the final voice vote.
The White House stopped short of reiterating Bush's veto threat, issued earlier this year when the House passed the same hate crimes provision as a stand-alone bill. But presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino made clear that Bush believes the federal provision is unnecessary.
"State and local law enforcement agencies are effectively using their laws to the full extent they can," Perino said. She wouldn't comment on the prospects for a veto.
The provision has progressed to this point before. In the Republican-controlled Congress, the Senate in 2004 attached a similar measure to the same authorization bill, but it was stripped out during negotiations with the House.
This time, majority Democrats first passed the provision in the House. So the prospect of being stripped out during negotiations is less likely, leaving open the question of a presidential veto.
The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay college freshman who died after he was beaten into a coma in 1998 in Laramie, Wyo.
Under current federal law, hate crimes apply to acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting.
The bill would extend the hate crimes category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability and give federal authorities greater leeway to participate in hate crime investigations. It would approve $10 million over the next two years to help local law enforcement officials cover the cost of hate crime prosecutions. Federal investigators could step in if local authorities were unwilling or unable to act.
Democrats and the provision's Republican supporters said the bill would create a safeguard in states that do not have laws against hate crimes committed based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And they insisted that the provision is relevant to the underlying military spending legislation because both are strikes against terrorist behavior.
"The defense authorization is about dealing with the challenges of terrorism overseas...This (bill) is about terrorism in our neighborhood," said Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the chief Democratic sponsor. "We want to fight terrorism here at home with all of our weapons."
That's a stretch, not to mention a heavy-handed maneuver that "hijacks" a bill that includes a pay increase for troops in wartime, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
"I think it's shameful we're changing the subject to take care of special interest legislation at a time like this," Cornyn said on the Senate floor.
During a test tally that preceded the final vote, nine Republicans were among the 60 senators who voted to support the amendment: GOP co-sponsor Gordon Smith of Oregon, Sens. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Warner of Virginia and George Voinovich of Ohio.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., did not vote.
Republicans were careful not to attack the intent of the legislation, focusing instead on what they said was the "non-germane" nature of the amendment to the overall spending bill.
"There may be a time and place for a hate crimes discussion, but it is certainly not now when national security legislation is being held up," said Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl of Arizona.
Retorted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.: "For some, it never seems to be the right time or the right place."
from The Associated Press

Tila Tequila’s ‘bisexual’ dating show is another small step for MTV-kind.

Britney Spears' limp-wristed jiggle jiggle of an opener at this month's widely panned MTV Video Music Awards, suggested to some that the music station might be on its last legs of cultural relevance. Some say it sold out a decade ago; others argue that as soon as it became older than its target demographic (turning 25 last year), the station was officially too crusty to be cool.
MTV's latest effort -- a serialized bisexual dating show starring Tila Tequila, mistress of MySpace -- could be considered another sign of the station's shift from music network to sleaze peddler. But even if that's true, at least MTV is doing what it has always done best: making controversy while quietly breaking, or at least exposing, some pop-culture barriers.
Those of you who aren't Maxim subscribers or MySpace obsessives may not have heard of Tequila, the Singapore-born, Internet-bred girl who is ripe to become a bona fide B-lister. Her solicitation of well over 2 million "friends" on the social networking site and her off-kilter sexpot persona landed her on magazine covers, and even led Time magazine to dub her the "Madonna of MySpace."
And so, in two decades, MTV has gone from helping to create Madonna to counting on Tequila's half-proven celebrity appeal. On "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," following the road-tested formula of VH1's "Flavor of Love," Tequila will welcome 16 straight men and 16 lesbian women into a mansion, where they'll all live for a scandalous season while vying for her affection. MTV's first serialized dating program represents a big commitment from a network devoted to the short-attention-span crowd, meaning we can expect as much squabbling, back-stabbing and pansexual make-out sessions as 10 episodes can hold.
But the main selling point for MTV and Tequila seems to be the bisexual angle, as both try to prove they're busting a taboo. Tequila, for her part, claims she's never come out as a bisexual before (though her MySpace profile suggests otherwise). MTV, meanwhile, gets to brag that "A Shot at Love" is the first bisexual dating show on a network not specifically targeted to the LGBT community.
But Tequila's description makes it clear that the show is not so groundbreaking as all that. As she writes in her slangy, all-caps way:

the show will be about me finding love as a BISEXUAL!!!!! THAT IS CRAZY RIGHT? ..... the only twist is that these guys and these girls have NO IDEA that I am bisexual and that they are competing against each others sexes!!! GUYS AGAINST GIRLS......WHO WILL I END UP HOOKING UP WITH????? WILL I BE STRAIGHT OR LESBIAN IN THE END?????

In other words, the old sexual categories remain, embedded in the structure of the show: guys against girls in the mansion, straight against lesbian in Tequila's heart, with little in the way of "bisexuality" in sight. And contestants will probably confirm many a sexual stereotype (straight guys making girl-on-girl jokes, lesbian women happily cavorting for them as if that were the point of being lesbian, and so on).
Still, at least the concept of bisexuality, and dating-while-bisexual, will be out there in MTV-land. MTV has always pushed sexual boundaries, whether it's airing those first Madonna videos (even if they were later pulled) or featuring anHIV-positive cast member on "The Real World" in the early 1990s.
These days, the envelope-pushing is more likely to amount to simple sleaze (try watching more than five minutes of "Spring Break" programming without feeling the need to shower). But even that sleaze can serve a higher purpose of sorts, particularly when much of pop culture remains homophobic. Young, impressionable viewers, while watching gay men or lesbian women compete for dates on MTV's "Next," are able to learn that gay and lesbian kids can be just as self-important and sex-starved as straight kids. And isn't that what has always united the MTV generation(s)?
The generation that actually grew up with MTV might insist it was the music that once united its audience. But that point has long since passed -- MTV simply hasn't kept pace with the many new ways would-be video viewers can consume music. Why watch in hopes that your favorite video will air when you can just go to YouTube?
Even if it helped invent the music video, MTV has long known it can't live on music alone -- it even made a show about two characters who sit around criticizing the videos. The station may once have been about songs, but it has always been about spectacle, whether of the political, socially conscious, crassly consumerist or just plain sleazy variety. "A Shot at Love" may manage all of the above.
from The Los Angeles Times

Gay Sick Perverts Prepare For Folsom Street Fair

Once again, San Francisco prepares for the perverted Folsom Street Fair where homosexuals, sadomasochists and others gather for public displays of nudity, beatings, group sex and public masturbation -- PART TAX PAYER FUNDED -- with police just standing by and watching.
This year, "Perverts Without Morals" chose to deliberately mock Jesus Christ, Christians and The Last Supper, by depicting half naked homosexuals, leather men and women as the 12 Apostles, and display sex toys in place of the bread and wine.
A bloody fist can be seen in front of the central figure portraying Jesus Christ, possibly representing the vile sex act of "fisting" - where one's fist is fully inserted into another individual's anal cavity.
Stephen Bennett, president of SBM and a former homosexual said, "This is the most vile, vulgar and disgusting public display of filth I have ever seen in my life. There is no doubt a double standard when Christians and Christianity are mocked by homosexuals and degenerates in such a blatant, vile and sick way. Where is the media outrage over this event? We Christians will no longer tolerate this abuse nor be silent.
"As Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America broke this story calling upon California's officials to take action, I am also calling upon every major media outlet from CNN, to FOX News to CBS, NBC and ABC News to alert the public to this horrific story to show what truly goes on in this sex 'street fair' in possible view of children."
Bennett ended, "I call upon the homosexual Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, GLSEN, and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force to publicly condemn this blatant mockery of Christians and Christianity by some within their community, and condemn this sick public display of immoral behavior. I call upon the Miller Brewing Company to pull their endorsement of this event. I call for the organizers of this filth to immediately apologize to Christians worldwide and remove this Last Supper mockery. I also call upon every law abiding official and citizen in America who has any morals to do what they can to shut down this Folsom Street 'Filth' Fair once and for all."
from The Christian News Wire / Stephen Bennett Ministries

Testicle Size 'Really Is What Matters'

Testicle size is what counts for a clean bill of health and being able to produce children.
Most men are unaware of how important the size of their testes is in relation to their health, Professor Rob McLachlan, director of Andrology Australia, told Fairfax newspapers.
"I've seen men coming in with (testicles) the size of a sultana and they haven't realised (it's a problem) - it happens all the time," Prof McLachlan said.
Men need to be aware of their testicle size, to measure their own health.
"They don't know how big their testes should be - what's normal and what's abnormal," Prof McLachlan said.
Small testes can indicate there is a testosterone deficiency. This can make a man feel tired, lose muscle, gain fat, lose sex drive.
It could lead to osteoporosis or thinning of the bones. And it can also be a sign of infertility, with a higher risk of developing testicular cancer, Prof McLachlan says.
Genital examinations, which take about 30 seconds, are crucial for men and opens the channel for a diagnosis.
"You want to pick these conditions up in men when they are younger if you can because then you have the chance to intervene and give them 30, 40, 50 years of quality of life and protect them from issues such as thin bones," Prof McLachlan says.
To raise awareness of men's health, the male reproductive health centre Andrology Australia is producing orchidometers or different-sized beads.
They range from 1 ml to 35 ml in volume, which help doctors identify reproductive health disorders.
Testicles measured from 15 ml to 35 ml are in the normal range.
"If a man's testicles are the size of a sultana he should see his doctor," he said.
from The Sydney Morning Herald

Gay Or Straight? Body Type And Motion Reveals Sexual Orientation

An individual's body motion and body type can offer subtle cues about their sexual orientation, but casual observers seem better able to read those cues in gay men than in lesbians, according to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"We already know that men and women are built differently and walk differently from each other and that casual observers use this information as clues in making a range of social judgments," said lead author Kerri Johnson, UCLA assistant professor of communication studies. "Now we've found that casual observers can use gait and body shape to judge whether a stranger is gay or straight with a small but perceptible amount of accuracy."
Johnson and colleagues at New York University and Texas A&M measured the hips, waists and shoulders of eight male and eight female volunteers, half of whom were gay and half straight. The volunteers then walked on a treadmill for two minutes as a three-dimensional motion-capture system similar to those used by the movie industry to create animated figures from living models made measurements of the their motions, allowing researchers to track the precise amount of shoulder swagger and hip sway in their gaits.
Based on these measurements, the researchers determined that the gay subjects tended to have more gender-incongruent body types than their straight counterparts (hourglass figures for men, tubular bodies for women) and body motions (hip-swaying for men, shoulder-swaggering for women) than their straight counterparts.
In addition, 112 undergraduate observers were shown videos of the backsides of the volunteers as they walked at various speeds on the treadmill. The observers were able to determine the volunteers' sexual orientation with an overall rate of accuracy that exceeded chance, even though they could not see the volunteers' faces or the details of their clothing. Interestingly, the casual observers were much more accurate in judging the orientation of males than females; they correctly categorized the sexual orientation of men with more than 60 percent accuracy, but their categorization of women did not exceeded chance.
The findings build on recent research that shows that casual observers can often correctly identify sexual orientation with very limited information. A 1999 Harvard study, for example, found that just by looking at the photographs of seated strangers, college undergraduates were able to judge sexual orientation accurately 55 percent of the time.
"Studies like ours are raising questions about the value of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," Johnson said. "If casual observers can determine sexual orientation with minimal information, then the value in concealing this information certainly appears questionable. Given that we all appear to be able to deduce this information to some degree with just a glance, more comprehensive policies may be required to protect gays against discrimination based on their sexual orientation."
The findings also are part of mounting evidence suggesting that sexual orientation may actually be what social scientists call a "master status category," or a defining characteristic that observers cannot help but notice and which has been scientifically shown to color all subsequent social dealings with others.
"Once you know a person's sexual orientation, the fact has consequences for all subsequent interactions, and our findings suggest that this category of information can be deduced from subtle clues in body movement," Johnson said.
from Science Daily

'Top Chef' Contestant Attecked In Gay Bashing

A former contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef" was beaten by attackers yelling anti-gay slurs, her lawyer said.
Josie Smith-Malave, who was featured on the second season of the reality show, was among a small group of women who were asked to leave a Sea Cliff bar over Labor Day weekend, lawyer Yetta Kurland said Tuesday.
About 10 young people followed the women and began screaming anti-gay epithets, spitting on them and then beating them, Kurland said.
Smith-Malave, who is in her early 30s, is openly gay, Kurland said.
Nassau County police said they were investigating, but declined to provide details of the incident.
Smith-Malave, a Miami native, is a former sous-chef for Marlow and Sons restaurant in Brooklyn. She has played for the New York Sharks of the Independent Women's Football League.
from The Associated Press

Jerry Apologizes

Jerry Lewis dropped an anti-gay slur - the same one that got Isaiah Washington of "Grey's Anatomy" in trouble - during the 18th hour of his annual Labor Day telethon.
He apologized Tuesday for a "bad choice of words."
The 81-year-old showman - prowling about the stage during the live telecast Monday in Las Vegas - was goofing around and dodging his cameraman, then went into a ramble about imaginary family members.
"Oh, your family has come to see you," he said, speaking to the camera and gesturing toward thin air.
"You remember Bart, your older son," he said, and motioning toward another unseen character, "Jesse, the illiterate f-----.
"No," Lewis said, quickly stopping himself before continuing.
Monday's monologue prompted a critical statement Tuesday from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Neil Giuliano, GLAAD president, called Lewis' use of the term "simply unacceptable."
"It also feeds a climate of hatred and intolerance that contributes to putting our community in harm's way," Giuliano said.
In a statement Tuesday, Lewis said he was making "a joking comment to a member of my production team."
"I apologize to anyone who was offended," he went on. "Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forget that not everyone knows me that well.
"That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply. ... I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses," he said.
Lewis' telethon, in its 42nd year, set a new record by raising $63.7 million to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, topping last year's event by $3 million.
from The Associated Press

Jerry Lewis Using 'Faggot' To Help Raise Money

Update 9/5/07 Wednesday:
That clip was taken down but TMZ still has it.
Click here to view it.

Sharon Osbourne Fired For Calling Simon Cowell Gay?

Sharon Osbourne is furious with her brother David Arden for his sensational expose in a British tabloid this weekend (02Sep07) and is "devastated" by his betrayal, according to reports.
The rock matriarch is said to be "disappointed" at Arden's revelations in Sunday newspaper the News of the World, in which he claims Osbourne hated her fellow The X Factor judge Simon Cowell and was briefly fired from the British talent show for her constant gay jibes.
Arden also alleges his 54-year-old sister only married husband Ozzy Osbourne to spurn his Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi.
He said: "The truth is Ozzy was way down on her list. Sharon had no interest. In fact she always referred to Ozzy as 'the w**ker'.
"When the label was having hard times, she actually tried to get Ozzy fired."
But Osbourne has vowed to set the record straight in the second installment of her autobiography, which is due out in October (07), and a close friend of the star claims Arden only sold his story because he was so desperate for the money.
The source says, "Their dad is dead and David thinks he can do what he wants.
"Basically, he needed the cash. Now he has to wait and see what Sharon says in the book - he should be trembling with fear."
Arden and Osbourne fell out after the death of their father, music mogul Don Arden, who passed away in July (07).
from The Post Chronicle

Sex Charges Levied Against Police Chief

Texas - The police chief in this South Texas town has been charged with two counts of sexual assault for allegedly violating male employees who were passed out at his home during parties.
Jose Luis Vela, 42, was being held in the Hidalgo County Jail on $200,000 bond after his Thursday arraignment on the two felony charges. The city has placed him on paid leave pending the outcome of the case.
"This is the first time I've ever heard of a chief of a police arrested for sexually assaulting his employees," said Sheriff Lupe Trevino, whose office started an investigation last week based on a tip from a friend of one of the alleged victims.
As he was led out of the courtroom Thursday, Vela denied the charges and said he did not know who his accusers were.
Investigators have accused Vela of performing oral sex on a male employee after the man passed out drunk at a party about a year ago at Vela's home in Mission, according to court documents.
Vela is also accused of violating a different male employee with an object while that man was passed out at a party in July, Trevino said.
Trevino would not identify the alleged victims, nor their positions within the 18-employee department.
City Manager Jorge Arcaute said the city's employees must work through the shock of Vela's arrest. The town of about 4,400 residents is located 10 miles north of the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley.
"This will reflect poorly on us," Arcaute said. "The challenge for us is to keep doing a good job and work harder. We're up to the challenge."
Lt. Eric Hernandez has been named the Alton department's acting chief.
from The Associated Press

Larry Birkhead & Howard K. Stern Were Gay Lovers?

An explosive tell-all book about Anna Nicole Smith's sad demise alleges the two men who battled for custody of her baby girl and control of her fortune were gay lovers.
The bombshell allegations about the steamy relationship between the former Playboy Playmate's longtime companion Howard K. Stern and her baby's biological father, Larry Birkhead, come to light in "Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death."
Sordid passages in the soon-to-be released book by former MSNBC journalist Rita Cosby describe how Anna Nicole and her friend allegedly caught Stern and Birkhead with their shirts off and their pants around their ankles in a Los Angeles home.
Jackie Hatten, described in the book as one of Anna Nicole's closest friends, said the men were engaged in oral sex.
"Their bodies were intermingled," Hatten says, according to a copy of the book obtained by the Daily News. "It was obvious what was happening."
The shocking book accuses Birkhead and Stern of cutting a secret deal after Anna Nicole was buried in March, with Birkhead getting custody of Dannielynn in return for Stern being named executor of the star's estate.
Dannielynn, who turns 1 on Friday, could inherit hundreds of millions of dollars from the estate of Smith's late husband, oil tycoon Howard Marshall.
Birkhead and a lawyer for Stern both vehemently denied the accusations in Cosby's book yesterday - and vowed to drag her into court, setting the stage for an ugly legal battle.
"None of it is true," Birkhead told The News. "I'm gonna sue Rita Cosby for it."
Birkhead said he was disgusted by Cosby's claim that he and Stern were gay lovers.
"If she printed that then she is really getting sued," Birkhead yelled. "My attorneys are going after her and that is absolutely false. And I am sure Howard and the estate and everyone else involved is going to sue her too. This is just nonsense."
Stern's lawyer, Lin Wood, called the book's content "false and defamatory." Wood said Cosby "has taken the coverage to a disgusting new low for which she will be held legally accountable."
OK! magazine already has severed ties with Birkhead over the Cosby allegations, axing coverage of Dannielynn's first birthday as the final part of a $1.7 million access deal.
The 244-page book reads like a whodunit novel with cliffhanger chapters, plot twists and tales of deception by those closest to Anna Nicole.
The former stripper knew both Birkhead and Stern were gay, the book alleges. But Smith, who was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe, chose Birkhead as her lover because she wanted a blond, blue-eyed baby, according to Cosby.
The tell-all claims Anna Nicole would spread out on her bed and watch a video allegedly showing Birkhead and Stern having oral sex "over and over" while Stern worked on his computer in their Bahamas home. The existence of the video was confirmed by a source yesterday.
Stern is portrayed in Cosby's book as a jealous, money-grabbing control freak who manipulates the erratic blond beauty's celebrity status for his own financial gain.
As her life spun out of control after the death of her son, Daniel, last September, Stern kept Anna Nicole hidden from friends and forced the heavily drugged model to sign stacks of paperwork, the book claims.
His alleged "goodie bag" of meds - including Vicodin, Valium, morphine and Demerol - were never far from reach.
"He was the pharmacist and [the bag] was the drugstore," Anna Nicole's ex-boyfriend Ben Thompson told Cosby.
In Anna Nicole's final days, the buxom blond was holed up in Room 607 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Florida, with a raging 105-degree fever, the book says.
She was watched by Stern, her bodyguard, her psychiatrist and a handful of aides as a pus-filled abscess from a needle injection in her left buttock caused an infection in her bloodstream, Cosby writes.
Cosby alleges a right-handed Anna Nicole could never have administered these injections herself.
As Anna Nicole's life slowly ebbed away, Stern allegedly abandoned her to keep an appointment with a boat broker. The book describes him as cold and nonchalant when told of Anna Nicole's death - a far cry from the picture of a doting lover he painted in interviews.
As doctors rushed Anna Nicole to a hospital in a futile bid to save her life, Stern allegedly was already on the phone to media contacts lining up lucrative exclusive interviews.
"Howard was ready to make his next deal," an eyewitness says in the book. "It showed us that to Howard it was all about money."
Birkhead comes across as no angel either. The book claims Birkhead gave Smith cocktails of drugs and watched as Stern allegedly gave medication to Anna Nicole while she was attached to an IV drip in the hospital during her pregnancy.
His image as the "aw shucks nice guy" was a carefully crafted ploy to manipulate the media, Birkhead's former lawyer Debra Opri told Cosby. Opri is suing Birkhead for failing to pay her legal fees.
Yesterday, Birkhead dismissed Cosby, whose MSNBC show was canceled last year, as a has-been TV hack.
"She got fired and nobody wanted her," Birkhead told The News. "The last story she did was on Anna and now she is doing this book because no one will hire her."
Stern's lawyer was equally outraged, saying: "It appears that Ms. Cosby has joined the ranks of tabloid journalists who are willing to publish the print equivalent of sewerage to engage in character assassination for profit."
from The New York Daily News

Brokeback Mountain Director Comments On New Movie Sex Scenes

HONG KONG - A Hong Kong newspaper reports Oscar-winning director Ang Lee says filming the sex scenes in his new spy thriller Lust, Caution nearly caused him a mental breakdown.
The Apple Daily newspaper quotes Lee adding he was comforted he was able to help his actors through the ordeal.
The Taiwanese director, who won an Oscar for best director for Brokeback Mountain in 2006, was speaking from Venice, where Lust, Caution is competing for the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The movie was screened in Venice last Thursday but has not been released in theatres.
Hollywood trade publication Variety has reported the movie features lovemaking in provocative sexual positions, implied oral sex and also full female frontal nudity.
The film has received the strictest rating in the United States, which bans viewers younger than 17.
"Lust, Caution," based on a short story by famed Chinese writer Eileen Chang, is about a group of patriotic students who plot to assassinate the intelligence chief in the Japanese-backed Chinese government during the the Second World War era.
Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays the intelligence official Mr. Yi, while newcomer Tang Wei plays the Chinese student Wang Jiazhi, who seduces Yi to pave way for the assassination. The movie also features Joan Chen from "The Last Emperor" and Chinese-American pop star Leehom Wang.
In a separate interview with Chinese news website Sina.com, Lee said he cleared the set to all but four crew members, including himself, while filming the sex scenes involving Leung and Tang.
"The scenes were completely in a very private space," he said.
Lee told Apple Daily he spent tremendous effort training actress Tang - more so than for Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi when she was a budding star shooting Lee's kung fu hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
"She (Tang) was picked from 10,000 people. There was three months' training and five months' shooting. I spent a full eight months on her. I've never spent so much effort on one person," Lee was quoted saying.
from The Canadian Press