Brokeback Bill Frist?

You've no doubt heard some of the rumors swirling since Bill Frist sent an invitation out that included a red handkerchief strategically placed in a cowboy's specific back pocket and where you had to undo the cowboy's belt buckle to get to details of the event.

With someone else, I'd just consider it taking advantage of the popularity of a piece of pop culture right now with Brokeback Mountain's incredible popularity (I have not seen it even though I am the child of a cowboy who, at least based on the number of girlfriends he had besides my mother - cough - was NOT gay).

But coming from presidential hopeful Bill Frist, who has proven himself happy to abandon science and common sense to pander to the type of weak-minded Bush-Rove conservative base, it just strikes me as VERY, VERY odd.

From WaPo:

"Don't miss a celebration of southern hospitality," the invite says, "one-of-a-kind music and special friends . . ." though it's unclear who those friends are and what makes them special.

The back of the card shows the cowboy from behind with a red flowered handkerchief sticking out of his right pocket. Wait a minute -- wasn't there something about how this used to be some kind of code in the gay community years ago? A way to signal each other in crowded, noisy bars?

So we checked the GayCityUSA.com's Hanky Codes. Sure enough, there it was in the chart explaining what they mean: red hanky in right pocket. Oh, dear.