Brokeback Mountain leads the Oscars pack with a whopping eight Academy Award nominations, including best picture, best actor for Heath Ledger, best director for Ang Lee, best supporting actress for Michelle Williams and best supporting actor for Jake Gyllenhaal. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana were also nominated for their screenplay adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story.

The “gay cowboy movie” just rode off with four Golden Globes (best picture, direction, screenplay and original song), and looks strong for Hollywood’s main event March 5 (mark your calendars).

Brokeback isn’t the only GLBT-themed movie getting its fair share of accolades. Felicity Huffman’s performance as Bree, a preoperative male-to-female transsexual, in the movie TransAmerica earned her the Globe for best actress and an Academy Award nomination. And Phillip Seymour Hoffman brought home a Globe for his chilling portrayal of Truman Capote, gay author of the famous book In Cold Blood. Hoffman also nabbed the best-actor Oscar nomination, and is seen by many to be the favorite.

And judging by the box office, America seems to agree with the critics. Taking in nearly $60 million, Brokeback has greatly exceeded expectations for an independent film with a limited release, proving that more than just your handful of gays in major cities are turning out to see what soon may be named best picture of the year.

There is no doubt these films and performances are top notch, but is the momentum behind these pictures, with the exception of Hoffman as Capote, a tribute to their political and social implications, or is Brokeback truly the best picture of 2005?

The power of these films is their ability to communicate the raw essence of humanity; feelings and emotions that we all experience in a way that audiences can understand and relate to. A transsexual relates to Bree’s struggle with gender dysphoria and her experience transitioning from male to female, but somehow, through creative and imaginative filmmaking, we can all connect with Bree on some level. Ironically, by exposing viewers to issues affecting the transgender community in such a way, all notions of gender identification get stripped away to reveal what we already know: We really are all the same. Bringing audiences to this conclusion voluntarily is what makes these films genius.

The rabble-rousing effect of these films in the current social and political climate has helped to edge out the competition. Is Brokeback Mountain Hollywood’s way of flipping conservatives the proverbial bird? At a time when our leaders are sacrificing gay rights in the name of politics, art – with all of its influence – has stepped in to show America a shimmering glimpse of truth on the silver screen.

That such hubbub was created by this onscreen romance probably has those ultra-progressive Europeans rolling their eyes at our lack of culture, but ticket sales prove that America is indeed ready and willing – if not fascinated by – nontraditional forms of human expression, whether that is love in the case of Brokeback Mountain or gender identity in TransAmerica.

Progress is often attributed to our leaders. This year, Hollywood is sending Washington a message: If you won’t do the job, we will.