'Brokeback Mountain' Shirts Auctioned

[cynatnite]

LOS ANGELES - Tom Gregory just spent more than $100,000 on two used cowboy shirts. And he couldn't be happier. The shirts are the ones worn by the ill-fated lovers, played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, in Oscar front-runner "Brokeback Mountain."

The shirts that represent their relationship. The shirts that, to Gregory, represent the ongoing plight of gays for acceptance in society.

"They really are the ruby slippers of our time," said Gregory, 45.

A longtime gay activist, Gregory plans to keep the shirts "as they were, on the hanger, entwined."

"I would never wear them, put them on, or separate them," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222/ap_en_mo/brokeback_shirts