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For roughly the ten-thousandth time in the last three months, dreamy-eyed Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal answers a question about what it was like to undergo the harrowing ordeal of an ostensibly straight actor pretending to give Heath Ledger a handjob. Gyllenhaal says his upbringing gave him the strength to spit in his palm and get down to his on-screen manual labor:

The 24-year-old actor had no hesitation in accepting the gay role, saying that the liberal way he was raised helped to form his open views on the subject.

Gyllenhaal tells British magazine Empire, "As soon as I read the script I wanted to do it.

"A lot of people have asked me, 'Were you worried about the sex scenes?' And you know, maybe it's just that I take these things for granted, because I live in LA and some of my close friends and family are gay, and I grew up in a generation where it's not a problem.

"It's not my fault if people disagree with my ideas, 'cos that's how I was raised."

Credit Gyllenhaal's tolerant and forward-thinking parents for rearing such an open-minded son. Sure, the less advanced kids at school laughed at an eight year-old Jake when he insisted on playing "Gay Cowboys and Transgendered Indians" at every recess, but that uncomfortable period is definitely paying dividends now.