Two love scenes between the male protagonistshad been excised, provoking furious accusations from gay-rights groups of censorship driven by creeping homophobia in Italy. "The need to change a film about homosexual love into a film about simple male friendship says a lot about the current cultural climate," said Franco Grillini, president of Gaynet. The cuts - involving a kiss between actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and a love scene in a tent - came days after the Vaticanattacked an EU proposal for the UN formally to condemn discrimination against gay people. Rai on Tuesday claimed the cuts were an honest mistake and promised to broadcast the full version of the 2005 film. In a statement, the network explained that it had asked Italian distributor Bim for a copy suitable for broadcast before the watershed. As the film had only been certified for viewers over the age of 14 in Italian cinemas, Bim went back to Italian censors for a new cut, which it then supplied to Rai. The mistake, said the

network, was that programmers decided to air it after the watershed, "without checking" first which version it was. "Since it went out after the watershed we could have shown the full version," said Rai's director general, Claudio Cappon. "This has nothing to do with censorship." Yesterday, Italy's newspapers picked over the Brokeback story, with La Stampa asking "Who stole the gay kiss?", while Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by the family of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, dismissed the protest as the work of "the politically correct lobby". Political parties consider channels at Rai as private bailiwicks, controlling content. The network has effectively barred anti-Berlusconi comedian Sabina Guzzanti and can be relied on for a diet of dancing girls and biopics of popes. Vladimir Luxuria, a transsexual former MP, was last month voted by viewers the winner of L'Isola dei Famosi, a reality show broadcast on Rai Due. Luxuria said yesterday that Rai's explanation for the censored film was believable, but added that the version aired was like "the Mona Lisa without a head".

SŁOWNICZEK

excise - usunąć, wyciąć

creeping homophobia - pełzająca homofobia

after the Vatican attacked an EU proposal for the UN formally to condemn discrimination against gay people - po tym jak Watykan zaatakował unijną propozycję aby ONZ formalnie potępiła dyskryminację homoseksualistów

before the watershed - przed dozwolonym czasem antenowym

after the watershed - w dozwolonym czasie antenowym, czyli późniejszym wieczorem

who stole the gay kiss? - kto skradł gejowskie całusy?

dismissed the protest - zlekceważyła protest

private bailiwicks - prywatne poletko

can be relied on for a diet of dancing girls - można na nich polegać, gdy chodzi o tańczące panienki

biopics - filmy biograficzne