Telling points, all. I suppose I can fault the media for turning this movie into a "love story with gay cowboys". I can definitely see a case to be made that this was all about the closet and its effects on gay men of those decades. You're probably right, as well, about men from the post-stonewall period experiencing this differently from those who came after (like me)

If it's any consolation, I did like the Thanksgiving Dinner scene where Jack Twist puts the verbal smack down on his father-in-law. ;P