After all, the film character boasts that his fame is second only to Hitler’s and says he just wants “to achieve zee Austrian dream – find a job, get a dungeon und raise a family in it.”

Yet rather than recoil at British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s new spoof about a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista, most Viennese are taking Bruno’s own advice: “Get ueber it!”

Judging from a smattering of look-alike contests and Web sites cheerfully hawking skintight T-shirts and short-shorts, some even seem to be embracing their inner Bruno.

“We can all learn a lot from Bruno: style, zest for life, versatility, fearlessness,” Doris Knecht, a columnist for the Kurier newspaper, wrote in her blog ahead of Universal Pictures’ worldwide release Friday.

“This man is proud of his homeland, so we’re proud of him,” she said, proclaiming: “Austria has a new ambassador. Thanks, Bruno!”

Not everyone shares her enthusiasm – least of all a real ambassador: Emil Brix, Austria’s top envoy to Britain.

In an interview with Austrian public broadcaster ORF aired Thursday, Brix denounced “Bruno” as “completely improper and unsuitable.”

He said he found Baron Cohen’s flippant references to Hitler and to Josef Fritzl – convicted in March of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a dungeon and fathering her seven children – cheap, crass and offensive.

“Everyone should speak out against such a thing,” he said, warning that it will tarnish Austria’s image.

ORF panned the film in a review. “A lot of expense for a few punch lines,” it said.

Most Austrians, though, seem to be taking “Bruno” in stride.

They’re used to being ridiculed for the country’s past complicity with the Nazis, its flourishing far-right political fringe and the Fritzl affair, which came less than two years after a similar case involving a young woman who escaped after being held captive 8 1/2 years in an underground cell.

They’ve also taken a ribbing over Austria-born Arnold Schwarzenegger, initially for his “Terminator” films and most recently for becoming California governor. Outsiders have made cracks about lederhosen and yodeling ever since “The Sound of Music” – still unseen by the vast majority of Austrians – debuted in 1965.

“Austrians like to laugh at themselves as long as no one gets hurt,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said Thursday.

Underscoring the mischievous mood, he quipped: “I hope the lederhosen industry gets a boost from ‘Bruno’ in this time of recession.”

Some Austrians already are familiar with Bruno, a character Baron Cohen has channeled on “Da Ali G Show.”

Although Vienna isn’t exactly in the throes of Bruno fever, movie posters depicting him in barely bum-concealing bright yellow lederhosen, a matching alpine cap and an over-the-shoulder pout adorn virtually every bus and tram stop in the Austrian capital.

Fans also have been hawking clothing and merchandise emblazoned with Bruno-isms like “Get ueber it!” “Nicht nicht!” and “Ich don’t think so.”

“Naturally ‘Bruno’ is tasteless and always has one foot planted over the border of decency. But what else can you expect from Sacha Baron Cohen?” said Alex Rechsteiner, a philosophy student.

Austrian media generally have played down suggestions that “Bruno” will do irreversible damage and even discourage tourists from visiting. They note that some Australians feared the same after “Crocodile Dundee” was released, yet if anything, that film may have lured foreigners.

Baron Cohen is used to getting flak for his work.

After the 2006 surprise smash “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” officials and ordinary people in the former Soviet republic took great offense at being mercilessly lampooned as an incestuous and boorish backwater.

In the end, it didn’t seem to inflict any lasting damage: Next year, Kazakhstan will hold the chairmanship of the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Alfons Haider, an openly gay Austrian cabaret singer and TV host who some believe helped inspire the Bruno character, has expressed admiration for Baron Cohen while repudiating what he describes as the movie’s far-right and anti-Semitic undertones.

Vienna is one of Europe’s most gay- and lesbian-friendly capitals, and its annual Life Ball – a glittery event that draws celebrities from around the world and raises millions for HIV/AIDS research – is a highlight of the social calendar.

“How could mein film be ein PR-disaster for Austria?” the daily newspaper Oesterreich quoted Baron Cohen as saying in characteristic zis-und-zat “Bruno-speak” in an interview published Thursday. “Hitler, Fritzl, Bruno. Zat has to be ein upswing!”

Prejean, 21, said officials from the Miss California USA pageant were worried that her comments would cost their contest financial backing and tried to prepare her for a string of post-pageant media interviews by discouraging her from discussing her religious beliefs.

“`You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith. This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand,’” Prejean recalled being told. “I was representing California. I was representing the majority of people in California.”

She offered her version of the tense hours following the April 19 Miss USA pageant while appearing at the San Diego megachurch that has helped shape her views. The Rock Church, founded by former San Diego Chargers defensive back Miles McPherson, was active in the campaign to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriages in California last year.

Prejean, who was named first runner-up to Miss North Carolina and will remain Miss California until November, has spent the last week defending her comments, made during the pageant’s final round. They came in response to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton’s question about legalizing same-sex marriage.

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage,” she said. “And you know what? I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

Hilton, who is gay, stoked the 30-second exchange the next day when he cursed the beauty queen on his blog and suggested her response may have cost Prejean the Miss USA crown.

Officials from K2 Productions, which produces the Miss California USA pageant, did not immediately return a phone call Sunday from The Associated Press seeking to verify Prejean’s account.

The San Diego Christian College junior, model and member of the San Diego Padres “Pad Squad” received a heroine’s welcome from fellow members of the Rock, where she was the guest of honor at morning services. Seated onstage across from McPherson, she recalled resisting multiple opportunities – from her appearance on NBC’s “Today” show to a performance with Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump – to edit, explain or expound upon her remarks.

“I knew I had to stay true to my beliefs and not let them intimidate me into taking back what I said because I don’t take back what I said,” she said.

Rashad Robinson, media programs director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said Prejean’s honesty would have been admirable if, in frankly expressing her opinion, she hadn’t misspoke.

“Contrary to Miss California’s claim, people can’t choose, gay and lesbian couples don’t have a choice except in a handful of states,” Robinson said. “In her extensive public platform since then, she hasn’t clarified that, she hasn’t walked back from what are clearly misstatements.”

Because the contestant’s scores are supposed to be kept secret, it may never be known whether Prejean would have won had she not drawn Hilton’s question. Trump has said one part of the pageant would not have decided the outcome. Other pageant veterans, however, say that based on her standing as first runner-up, low scores from one judge would have been enough to cost Prejean the title.

Besides Hilton, at least two more of the pageant’s dozen judges have said Prejean should have given a more politic, if not politically correct, answer to avoid offending anyone and that it was her lack of tact, not her opposition to same-sex marriage, that ruffled feathers.

“I do not fault her for her beliefs. I fault her for her complete lack of social grace, and that’s a quality I want my Miss USA to possess,” judge Alicia Jacobs, a former Miss Nevada, wrote on her blog.

Others, though, have applauded Prejean for her forthrightness. The other four finalists were asked whether they would speak out against domestic violence, favor using taxpayer money to bail out corporations, give immigrants access to health care and help fund elections in Afghanistan.

“A question like that is not relevant in a platform such as the Miss USA pageant. It’s far too political and it’s divisive as well,” said Kenya Moore, the 1993 Miss USA who was one of the judges that named Prejean Miss California in November. “Half of the audience is going to agree and half is not, no matter what she said. It’s a no-win situation.”

As for Prejean, there is still the possibility she could go on to become Miss USA if winner Kristen Dalton wins the Miss Universe pageant this summer. Meanwhile, she plans to continue making the public appearances that comes with her Miss California USA duties.

On Thursday, she received a standing ovation while presenting an award at the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards in Nashville, but said, “up in Hollywood, I’m not sure what their reaction would be to my showing up at a movie premiere.”

She said she would be willing to meet with representatives from California’s largest gay rights group “as long as it’s not political.”

If anything, Prejean has solidified her stance in the last week. McPherson, who preaches against homosexuality, has been acting as her adviser and encouraging her to use her newfound fame to persuade other evangelical Christians to share their views, even if they are unpopular.

“I learned that God has a bigger crown than any man can give you,” she said.

“What a ‘homophobe’ means is someone who has prejudice about gay people,” Frank told Boston radio station WBZ. Scalia, he said, “makes it very clear that he’s angry, frankly, about the existence of gay people” in his written opinions.

In a statement released yesterday, Frank said, “The point is that Justice Scalia goes far beyond simply denying that there is a constitutional right here and makes clear his support for the discriminatory policies based on his condemnation of homosexuality.”

Frank pointed to the 2003 Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down anti-sodomy laws.

The Court voted 6-3 to eliminate sodomy laws, but in a strong dissent, Scalia said that the ruling served an “agenda promoted by some homosexual activists directed at eliminating the moral opprobrium that has traditionally attached to homosexual conduct.”

Frank told WBZ,  “If you read [Scalia’s] opinion, he thinks it’s a good idea for two consenting adults who happen to be gay to be locked up because he is so disapproving of gay people.”

He told CNN that there are “Two opinions written by Justice Scalia in which he makes it very clear that he thinks it’s a terrible idea for people who are gay or lesbian to have equal rights. It’s not based on his views on marriage. Obviously, there’s a legitimate debate about marriage.”

Frank also referred to the 1996 Supreme Court case Romer v. Evans, in which the Court struck down Colorado’s anti-gay Amendment 2, which prevented any municipality from protecting people based on their sexual orientation. Frank said that Scalia “again vigorously denounced the majority in the court for finding that it was unconstitutional to discriminate against people, again, not in marriage but a basis of their political rights, he said, ‘Well, of course, we disapprove this. We often disapprove of things like murder.’

“I mean, literally, when he was looking for comparisons to the public disapproval of homosexuality, the first thing he said was murder,” Frank said.

Frank’s clarifications came after an interview with 365gay’s Ross Palombo, in which Frank said that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman in federal law, would eventually go to the Supreme Court – but he said, “I wouldn’t want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court.”

Thousands of people are expected to attend the service, including the President-elect.

“It will be an enormous honor to offer prayers for the country and the new president, standing on the holy ground where the ‘I have a dream speech’ was delivered by Dr. King, surrounded by the inspiring and reconciling words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,” Robinson wrote in a weekend e-mail to supporters.

“I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community,” he said in the e-mail.

The announcement by the inaugural committee was one of two involving liberal religious leaders tapped by the committee. The Rev. Sharon Watkins, leader of the small Protestant denomination The Disciples of Christ, has been chosen to deliver the sermon at the National Prayer Service.

The election of Robinson as bishop in 2003 led to deep divisions within the worldwide Anglican Church and resulted in a number of parishes leaving the Episcopal umbrella while remaining Anglican.

Robinson has been a strong supporter of Obama and was vocal about his anger over the naming of Rev Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration on January 20 at the Capitol.

Warren, the pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California, ignited the ire of many liberals when he publicly supported California’s Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to ban gay marriage.

“The president-elect has respect for the Rt. Rev. Robinson, who offered his advice and counsel over the past couple of years,” an inaugural official told The Politico Web site. “It also has the benefit of further reinforcing our commitment to an open and inclusive inaugural.”

The official also said that the selections of Robinson and Watkins were made before the furor over Warren erupted.

Watkins is the first woman leader of The Disciples of Christ and the first woman to give the sermon at the traditional event, to be held Jan. 21 at the National Cathedral.

The service will include prayers, readings and hymns delivered by religious leaders of a variety of faiths.

The Disciples of Christ has about 850,000 members in the United States and Canada.

It says its work is “influenced by its founding ideals of our unity in Christ with openness and diversity in practice and belief.”

Most of the denomination’s churches are LGBT welcoming, although some, particularly in the South, are not. As congregationalists, each church is free to set its own policies.

Because of the divisions over sexuality, the Disciples of Christ has not taken a position on same-sex marriage. Watkins in an interview with The New York Times said she also has not made up her mind on the issue.

President-elect Obama has said he is not in favor of gay marriage but supports civil unions for same-sex couples and the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In 1997 at its annual convention, the Disciples of Christ urged the enactment of “legislation on local, state and national levels which will end the denial of civil rights and the violation of civil liberties for reasons of sexual orientation.”

The resolution specifically recognized that “the church, among other elements of society, has contributed to the persecution and suffering of homosexuals, and it is its culpability in this regard which provides one reason for seeking a more enlightened understanding.”

Campbell advertising in The Advocate fueled the AFA campaign. The ads featured a recipe for a butternut squash bisque made with Swanson chicken broth and depicted a lesbian couple and their young son in the kitchen, at “home for the holidays.”

The last line of ad copy read, “This holiday season, serve a special meal no matter the size and structure of your family. The secret is Swanson.”

The tone of the AFA form letter, posted on the organization’s Web site, is simmering rather than boiling:

“I am disappointed that Campbell Soup has decided to help promote the homosexual agenda and same-sex marriage. Your decision to support the homosexual agenda and same-sex marriage is unacceptable. I will alert my family and friends about your decision. Campbell Soup will no longer have an image of a clean and wholesome, all-American company. Now it will be known as the company which believes homosexual practice and same-sex marriage are good for our country.”

I’m pretty sure the group still would have objected had the ad contained a recipe for good old-fashioned chicken and rice.

Yes, the AFA doesn’t think Campbell’s is so M’m! M’m! Good!

I briefly went through a period of annoyance with Campbell’s, not over advertising but because the company’s Curly Noodle soup is so m’m good yet I couldn’t find a can in any grocery store within 20 miles of my apartment. I know, you’re thinking what’s the difference between Campbell’s Curly Noodle and Campbell’s Chicken Noodle? Well, I’ll tell you, there is a vast difference.

Curly Noodle contains curly noodles.

I was and still am a Campbell Kid. I was having a good day at school when I opened my lunch box and found hot soup and a Hostess Ding Dong instead of a bologna sandwich and a Little Debbie snack cake. I was having a perfect snow day with school closed when I trudged home from a snowball fight or sledding for hot soup with my mom.

Andy Warhol, as if you didn’t know, was a Campbell Kid too, but perhaps not as enthusiastic as I.

“I used to drink it,” he was quoted as saying. “I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again.”

In fact, a lot of people going back a lot of generations can probably say they were Campbell Kids and probably are now Swanson on-the-go adults, as maybe still Campbell Kids at heart. At the last potluck I attended, probably half the dishes on the table contained a Campbell product of some sort, including four green-bean casseroles made with cream of mushroom soup.

The AFA did not call for a boycott of Campbell Soup, but some of its members probably made up their minds not to stuff their turkeys with dressing made with Swanson broth.

And then, there are the letters — easily fired off from the AFA Web site to Campbell corporate in Camden, N.J.

So it seems appropriate that we let Campbell know that while the AFA stews, we dine.

Take time for a hot lunch today.

And while you go searching for G, L, B, T in a bowl of Campbell Kids Alphabet Soup, pen a letter to Campbell Soup president Donald Conant (douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com).

Tell him you are pleased the company did not let the AFA bully it into pulling advertising in The Advocate. Tell him you appreciate that the company earned a 100-percent ranking in the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate index. Tell him you grew up a Campbell Kid.

And please, tell him to make more Curly Noodle.

(Washington) Gay rights groups are voicing their opposition to the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at President-elect Barrack Obama’s inauguration.

Warren is the outspoken evangelical pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. – one of the state’s largest megachurches.

He was a major supporter of Proposition 8, the measure that amended the California constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

“There is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population,” he said during the Prop 8 campaign  “This is not a political issue – it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.”

When LGBT activists demonstrated at Saddleback following the passage of Prop 8, Warren accused gays of attempting to take away his constitutional right to practice religion.

During the presidential election campaign, Warren hosted a presidential forum with Obama and Sen. John McCain.  Warren did not endorse either presidential candidate.

People For the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert said Warren should never have been selected to deliver Obama’s invocation because of his support for Prop 8.

“[T]his decision further elevates someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans,” said Kolbert in a statement.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, in a letter to Obama, called for the invitation to Warren be rescinded.

“We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country.  And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends,” Solmonese said in the letter to the President-elect.

“But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.  Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.”

During the election campaign, Obama drew the ire of gay groups for choosing gospel singer Donnie McClurkin to appear at rallies targeting evangelical Christians.

McClurkin is an ardent supporter of the so-called ex-gay movement and has called homosexuality a choice that can be cured.

When opposition to McClurkin surfaced, Obama distanced himself from the singer’s views, but did not remove him from campaign appearances.

Obama has appointed one openly gay person to his administration. He selected Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

On the issues, Obama supports repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military; passage of the Mathew Shepard hate crime bill; and an inclusionary ENDA. He opposes same-sex marriage, but believes gay and lesbian couples should have many of the rights of marriage and supports repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.