THE TELEGRAPH: Italy's state television censored Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain when it aired the Oscar-winning movie by cutting scenes of gay sex.
Gay rights activists protested that RAI TV would never have dropped similar scenes had they involved a heterosexual couple, and politicians called for the incident to be discussed in parliament.
RAI said it had aired the cut version by mistake.
Brokeback Mountain is a cowboy romance about two ranch-hand buddies who start an affair when they meet on the fictional mountain in the 1960s. The 2005 movie won three Oscars, including the best director award for Lee, as well as the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
RAI's second channel aired the film late Monday cutting out a sex scene and a sequence showing a kiss between the lead characters, played by the late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.
"I don't believe it was an oversight, I believe it was preventive censorship," said gay rights advocate and former lawmaker Vladimir Luxuria. In an interview with La Repubblica, Mr Luxuria said cutting the key scenes was "like showing the Mona Lisa without its head". Italian TV Shows 'Brokeback Mountain' Without Gay Scenes >>> | December 10, 2008
Brokeback Mountain official website: Brokeback Mountain >>>
Watch YouTube video: Brokeback Mountain: “Kissing you” >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Italy)
