Heath's Gay Kiss Cut

No gay sex please, we’re Italian. The Italian national broadcaster RAI TV has run into a storm of protests after it aired Brokeback Mountain sans a key plotline kiss between Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, The Telegraph reports. RAI said it aired the cut version by mistake, but gay activists and newspaper editorial writers were outraged nonetheless. In an editorial slapped across the front page of La Stampa, Massimo Gramellini said, “I would like to understand why a kiss between two gays…should offend our sensibilities more than scenes of heterosexual sex or bloodthirsty violence.” It’s a question worth asking, especially as Italian TV routinely broadcasts shows featuring stripping housewives and violent and saucy movies are screened uncut.