It won three academy awards, but moviegoers in McAlester didn’t get a chance to watch it locally.

Until now.

“Brokeback Mountain,” which has been hailed as wonderful by some and awful by others, will be playing in McAlester tonight.

It’s not being shown at a theater, however.

Instead, the film is being shown in the seminar room of Kiamichi Technology Center.

The show begins at 6 p.m. Admission is free, but those who want to see the film must be 18 or over and have photo identification to be allowed in.

No food or drinks are allowed in the seminar center.

The show is being sponsored by McPride, a group founded in 2004 to support the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people of the area.

According to the group’s Web site, “Our purpose is to create a support group & provide help for the GLBT community of South East Oklahoma as well as our heterosexual allies.

“McPride welcomes our GLBTA community, as well as any open minded individuals who embrace diversity.”

“The main reason we’re doing this is because people in the area weren’t given the opportunity to see the film at the theater,” said McPride President Paul Prichard. The film, he said, “Can show people there is a whole other side to this lifestyle that people don’t think about.

“It’s really a beautiful love story.”

McPride has had to go through a series of hurdles to publicly show “Brokeback Mountain.”

It took several weeks to get initial contact with a representative of Focus Features, which made “Brokeback Mountain.” Once that contact was made, McPride representatives had to find a place to show the film before they could get a release. That provided another hurdle, as some locations were rejected as unsuitable and others rejected McPride’s request. But KTC officials said the group could use the seminar center, as long as the group had a release proving they had the right to show the film and also had added security for the event.

That’s been done. McAlester police will be patrolling the area to help with security and someone will be at the door to the seminar center to ensure that no one under 18 is admitted to the controversial show, which has been variously dubbed “a Western epic” and “a gay cowboy story.”

Both are oversimplifications, according to some critics. Starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gylenhall, the film is a tragic tale of forbidden love.

A second showing at KTC is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday.